Page 55 of Among the Innocent

Eva had told him she kept the phone hidden inside the barn. She’d placed it behind a support beam out of sight. Running his hand along the back of the structure, he found the loose board Eva told him she’d used to slip out of the barn without her mother spotting her. A pity he’d had to kill her so soon. He’d enjoyed Eva’s company more than anyone apart from Leah.

He moved the board aside. It let out a squeaking protest as he squeezed inside. The smell of the place descended on his nostrils. How could anyone live like this?

At first, Eva had thought it was a game to not tell him where she’d hidden the phone. He’d finally elicited the information from her. He slowly eased over to the spot she mentioned. She’d told him she’d hidden cigarettes there as well. She and Bethhad played around with smoking while on their time of running around. He felt around the spot. A pack of cigarettes and a lighter. Movie tickets. No phone. He pocketed the lighter. Where was the phone?

It was just like Eva to play games. Anger had him pacing the barn while the animals housed there protested his presence. He searched every square inch of the place. She’d moved the phone.

A noise outside caught his attention. He quickly hurried past the loose board. From a distance, he watched the property through the trees. A flashlight moved across the yard to the barn. One of the cops must have heard him and gone to investigate. Well, it didn’t matter. The phone wasn’t in the barn. There would be no reason to go back.

He stormed back to the car and drove away. Eva was conniving. She’d done something stupid. He just hoped it wouldn’t come back to haunt him.

Because he’d stolen the car, he drove on the less traveled roads. Pulling around behind an abandoned house outside of town, he killed the engine. He needed money, which meant he’d have to go see her soon. She owed him.

The house smelled of dank decay. It had been standing vacant for years. He lit the lantern he’d boosted.

More times than he could remember, he’d been forced to live in the shadows. Exist in places such as this when he deserved so much more. He’d gone through things no human should have to survive.

The mattress where he slept had been shoved against the corner. He grabbed the bag of food he’d purchased with the last bit of money and gobbled it down. Once he’d finished the burger, he tossed the bag among a growing pile of trash and brought out his phone.

He’d taken a picture of Leah standing in front of her little house withhim. He’d wanted to see her reaction to finding the locket, and it was everything he’d anticipated.

He brought up the message app.

Thinking of you.

He texted Justine the sappy sentiment. Women like her loved that drivel. So easy to sway them with a few words. A smile. Some kisses.

Her response came quickly.

I miss you. As soon as I can I’ll call you.

She believed he loved her, but he had no interest in her or Eva or Beth or the others. The one he wanted had betrayed him.

Soon. We will be together soon.

He waited for her answer before he dropped the phone onto the mattress. She had no idea what he had planned. But soon she would. He thought about where he would do it. They’d be watching the barn, expecting the move. Someplace daring. A smile spread across his face. A place that would shock them all.

“That was the lab. They’re running the fingerprints from the truck now.” Dalton reclaimed his seat at the table.

“Even if they find a match, it won’t be John’s. He wanted us to find it for some reason,” Leah said with certainty. At every other crime scene, including hers, there’d been no fingerprints left behind. Leah’s house had been no different. And the chances of finding out who had engraved the locket after so long was the equivalent of finding a needle in a haystack.

Dalton picked up his cup and swallowed the last of the coffee. “The question is why?”

Leah pushed her plate away and leaned back in her chair. “Marge will be waking up soon. We should probably put these away.” She indicated the files they’d been going over. Crime scene photos scattered around. Gruesome details that no civilian should witness, especially not someone as fragile as Marge.

“You’re right.” He rose and gathered up the photos and documents.

“Why do you think he killed Ellis?” she asked. Nothing about his crime scene matched the other victims, including the cause of death.

Dalton put the files away. “I think Ellis figured out the identity of the killer.”

Leah ran her finger around the rim of the cup. “If that’s true, then John or whatever his real name is has been back in St. Ignatius for at least a year. Why did he wait so long to start killing again?”

He sat down next to her once more. “It’s all about the timing. He planned all of this to coincide with the ten-year anniversary of your family’s deaths.”

“Yes, but why now? Why not the first anniversary or the fifth? Why now?” What was so special about ten years?

He covered her hand with his. “There may be something significant about the number ten. Only he knows the reason. But we’re close, Leah. I truly think we’re close to having the answers.”

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