Page 14 of For Rage

The musty smell grew stronger, and she could hear a faint humming sound coming from the depths of the basement. She saw a small flicker of light coming from the back corner of the room.

She quickly made her way toward the source of the light, her heart pounding in her chest. As she got closer, she could hear Jim's voice, mumbling to himself. She peered around the corner, her gun pointed directly at him.

Jim was sitting in front of a computer, feverishly typing away. He looked up as Morgan entered the room, a look of shock and fear crossing his face. He stood up abruptly.

"What the—"

"Jim Alba, you're under arrest," Morgan said, keeping her gun pointed at him. "We have a warrant to search this house."

"How did you get in here!?" It seemed he hadn't even noticed or heard them come in, he was too caught up in whatever it was that he was doing on his computer.

"What do we have here?" Derik asked, stepping up. Jim kept his eyes trained on Morgan—and her gun—but she peered past him, too, at the computer screen. It looked like an email. Morgan couldn't read it from far away, but Derik got closer and said out loud, "Wow, explains why you're not so torn up about Grace's death."

"What?" Morgan said.

Jim had sweat on his brow, his eyes wide and crazed.

"He's having an affair," Derik said. "It's obvious right here. 'I need to come see you, baby. They're going to go after me for Grace. I can just leave Milly.'"

Disgust curled in Morgan's stomach as she looked back at Jim. He was worse than she could ever have imagined.

"You're a real piece of work, Jim," Morgan said, disgust lacing her words. "You're a liar and a cheater, and now you're a murderer too."

"I'm not a murderer," he said. "I didn't do it."

Just then, they heard the sound of feet thumping down the stairs. Two of the men from the team appeared beside Morgan and Derek. Morgan gestured for the team to apprehend him. "Take him away."

"This is bullshit," Jim shouted. "I didn't kill my wife!"

"Yeah, we'll see about that," Morgan muttered, more to Derik than anyone else. He silently nodded beside her.

As Jim was led out of the basement in handcuffs, Morgan couldn't help but feel a twinge of satisfaction. They had caught the man who had killed Grace and left her daughter motherless. Justice would be served.

Morgan took a glance at the emails, still open on the computer screen. There were dozens of them, all detailing Jim's affair with a woman named "Amelia." It seemed like he'd killed Grace for a reason—to get rid of her—but it made Morgan curious. Why kill the other three women before her if his end goal was to just get her out of the way so he could pursue his affair?

They went back upstairs, and as they did, Morgan spotted a car out front of the house. She frowned and watched through the window, and that was when she realized that it was Lisa and Milly.

Milly ran out of the car, followed by Lisa. Morgan stormed outside as light rain sprinkled down on them. Jim was being shoved into the back of a car.

"Daddy!" Milly called out.

A desperate looking Lisa grabbed Milly's arm. Morgan stormed over to them. "Why did you bring her here?" Morgan called out.

"She saw her mom on the news," Lisa stammered. "I-I didn't know what else to do. I thought Jim would be gone by now, and she was crying and begging to go home."

Morgan's eyes met with Milly's. The little girl looked small and lost; her eyes filled with tears as she watched her father being taken away. Morgan's heart ached for her. She knew the pain of losing a parent all too well.

She walked over to Milly, crouching down in front of her. "Hey," she said softly, "I know this is really hard, but it's going to be okay. You're safe now."

Milly looked up at her with wide, teary eyes. "But what about me? What's going to happen to me now? Where is my dad going? And where is my mom? The news said she was ..."

Morgan's heart broke at the raw pain and confusion in the little girl's voice. She put a comforting hand on Milly's shoulder, trying to find the right words to say. But she realized then that she wasn't a comforting or maternal person at all. Milly shrugged away from her touch, and Morgan dropped her hand. She didn't have any words at all.

She looked up at Lisa, who wrapped an arm around Milly's shoulder.

"You're going to stay with me, Milly," Lisa said, "until your dad can take you home, okay?"

Morgan stood up and watched as Lisa ushered Milly back to the car. She knew that it wasn't going to be easy for the little girl, but she couldn't help but feel that she had let her down in some way. She watched the car drive away, her mind racing with all the questions that still needed answers. She had caught Jim, but that didn't explain why he had killed all those women before his wife. She needed more evidence, but where was she going to find it?

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