Page 11 of Seeking Evil

Zeke prayed it would turn out true.

He climbed into the back seat of Cooper’s truck and tried to control his emotions. Hannah was right. He needed to keep it together for Sierra.

Cooper maneuvered through the light traffic around Quantico.

“I’m pulling up details I can find on the old case now,” Hannah told them as she studied her cell phone. “The women’s vehicles were never located. That’s strange, don’t you think?”

Zeke leaned forward. “It is. Where’d they go? The town isn’t all that big from what I can tell.”

“It isn’t,” Hannah confirmed.

“Someone got rid of them,” Cooper concluded.

“But how? Those disappearances happened over one summer. How do you make six vehicles disappear?”

“Bury them?” Zeke said. “Either in a lake or underground. But you’d have to have a big spot to make it happen underground.”

Hannah typed something into her phone. “There are several decent-sized lakes around the area. “It’s possible. Or maybe have them crushed. I’m sure the sheriff checked with the local wrecking yards.”

“Probably. We can go over all of that with his team when we arrive.” Cooper brought the truck to a halt in front of Zeke’s home in Alexandria.

Zeke got out. “See you in half an hour?”

“We’ll be here.” Hannah assured him.

He closed the door. Cooper pulled away from the curb.

Zeke unlocked the door and went inside. The quiet of the place was another reminder of what was lacking in his life. He ran a hand over his eyes. What had been his problem anyway? He loved her. She loved him. Why couldn’t he commit? His father deserting them had cast a long shadow over both his and Hannah’s lives. It had prevented him from being able to fully commit to a relationship. But Sierra was different. He loved her.

Zeke went through to his bedroom and retrieved his duffle bag from the closet. Even though he rushed, time slipped into excruciating slow motion as he packed. All he wanted was to be in Wyoming.

He zipped his bag shut and carried it to the front door.

Everywhere he looked Sierra had left her touches. She had a keen eye for design and had helped him redecorate the place. Zeke went over to the sofa and picked up the fake fur throw and lifted it up to his nose. It smelled of her favorite scent. Obsession. Sierra told him she liked the classics.

He remembered them huddling under the blanket and watching scary movies. She’d pretend to be scared so they could cuddle. Sierra was every bit as tough as he was. She’d faced down some of the worst killers around. The last one had been her breaking point, though. The betrayal she felt at learning her psychiatrist was using information gleaned from her counseling sessions to commit murders had been the hardest. Sierra had gone to him after her mother died. She’d been vulnerable. He’d been a predator.

A horn honked outside. He looked out the window and spotted Cooper’s truck.

Shutting out how much he’d let her down in the past was hard. But he had to because she needed him and he wasn’t about to let her down now.

Chapter Five

Henry dug through her belongings. She claimed to be an FBI agent. He found her wallet, and her ID proved she was telling the truth. He removed her driver’s license and the ID and pocked them both for his trophy box. Instead of being worried about what he’d discovered, he was intrigued by her knowledge of criminals. Maybe she could help explain things to him. If he had the chance to ask before . . .

“Sierra Parker.” He liked the name. If he didn’t give her over to the monster who demanded another victim and pretended ignorance about her disappearance, he and Sierra might have time to talk.

When Henry had tried to go on the straight and narrow after marrying Maggie, he didn’t think it would last. But it had. Through the years, the need to kill had faded. Maybe he’d been wrong about Maggie changing him.

He’d lied to T and said Dawn had escaped through the tunnel and he’d killed her and left her buried inside one of the tunnels.

T had been angry, demanding another victim. Henry had gone along with the request and had taken Sierra. Now that he had her, he couldn’t imagine turning her over to T. But he couldn’t keep hiding victims either. At some point, he’d have to face T head-on. And one of them wouldn’t walk away from that encounter.

Henry stuffed the rest of Sierra’s things back into the bag and left it in the living room. He started for the basement when a noise around the front of the house grabbed his attention.

“Yoo-hoo. Henry, are you there?” Betsy. Dang it. He’d told her when he wanted to see her he would reach out. Henry had hoped she’d take the hint.

He stormed to the door. Took time to gather his composure before opening it.

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