Denouement (The Darkness Series Book 3) (23 page)

I can’t believe I’m even standing here today. Having to make this speech. Autumn was the best person I knew. She lived every day to the fullest, she was my very best friend; my better half. She was always pushing me to live outside of my comfort zone and experience all the good things life had to offer. She spent every day with no regrets and I always admired that about her. She was my hero, I may have been the older twin; but it was I that looked up to her.”

Aubrey turned to look at the picture of the two of them. “Autumn, I love you so much and I honestly don’t know how I’m going to carry on without you by my side, pestering the hell out of me to do the next crazy idea that popped in your head. I’ll miss you every damn second. Thank you for being who you were; thank you for loving me and for allowing me to love you. I promise that I will make you proud and never, ever will I allow anyone to forget you. I vow that your name will live on. I love you.”

There wasn’t a dry eye in the place, herself included, when she finished her speech and stepped down off the podium. She walked to the urn and leaned down and placed a chaste kiss on top of it. She whispered her next words quietly so that no one could hear. “I’ll get him for you. I’ll make sure he pays,” she vowed.

The wake passed in a blur of “I’m sorry for your loss” and people trying to shove food down her throat. Aubrey played the part as best she could, but after only an hour, she couldn’t handle anymore. Grief and exhaustion were at war with her and she was close to letting them win. Just when she thought she was going to start screaming at the top of her lungs for everyone to get out of her house, West appeared at her side. He took her by the hand and led her upstairs to her room, closing the door behind them.

Aubrey immediately moved to open it, intent on going back down to the guests. “Aubrey, stop. That’s enough for today. You’ve done enough.”

“But I have to greet the guests and say thank you and listen to their stories and make sure the food…”

“No. No, you really don’t have to do any of that and no one expects you to. All you have to worry about is you and what you need. That’s all that matters; especially today.” He sat her down on the bed and tugged off her shoes, then helped her slip out of her dress and into an over-sized t-shirt. Pulling the covers back, he laid her down and then climbed in behind her, kicking off his dress shoes; not caring that he was still wearing his suit. He cradled her to him and whispered in her ear. “Just rest, sweets. I got you.”

She relaxed against him and closed her eyes, letting sleep claim her.

West stayed with her for a few hours, pleased that she seemed to be resting peacefully. He knew Nora needed to be heading back home now that Gabe had disappeared altogether and that would leave Aubrey completely on her own. If that was the case, he wanted her to come and stay with him for a while, where he knew she would be protected.

Pulling up to his house, he noticed Brady and Theo’s cars in the driveway. None of the three men were anywhere to be found when he walked in. Puzzled, he called out to them. “Hey! Where is everyone?”

They all emerged from his bedroom with furious expressions. Brady stalked towards him and got right in his face. “You. I can’t believe I missed it all this time,” he spat out.

West had no idea what was going on. “What the hell are you talking about? What did you miss?”

“Don’t play dumb, you cocksucker,” Sam poked him hard in the chest. “We found the evidence you tried to hide.”

“Evidence? What evidence? I didn’t hide anything!” he protested.

Brady spun West around and pushed him roughly into the wall, slapping the cuffs on his wrists.

“We got an anonymous tip. We decided to follow up on it and guess what I found? Autumn’s cell phone. Pieces of the clothing she was reported to be wearing when she went missing. All here, West.
Here.
You fucking had us all fooled. You have the right to remain silent—” the Miranda rights were interrupted by Theo who grabbed Brady from behind and shoved him away.

Theo got right in West’s face. “How could you, you sick fuck? Autumn and all those people, dead. Fucking dead!”

Brady laid a comforting hand on Theo’s shoulder, urging him to step aside. The sooner they got this over with, the better for everyone involved.

“Let’s take him in.”

T
he moment had
come for Gabe to put his plan into action. He’d been hiding the knife in his sleeve for long enough. Today would be the day he would break free from his confinement and finally make his way back to his family. He’d finally managed to loosen the bonds on his right hand enough to slip it free without anyone noticing. All he needed now was a minute alone and he’d be able to free his left hand. He hadn’t seen Marcus in days and he prayed that today would be the day he would resurface, giving Gabe the chance to stab him in the throat with his knife. He didn’t think he’d be that lucky though. He had an inkling that something was going on; perhaps Marcus’ plan was starting to unravel?

Dr. Daniels was still in the room with him, muttering to himself as he checked things off on a clipboard. Gabe knew his routine, he would inspect the inventory, test a few pieces of equipment and then turn the projector on to force him to watch yet another “home video” of Marcus and Nora. That’s when he would finally leave and Gabe would have his chance.

“Are you ready for today’s show?” Dr. Daniels chuckled at his own joke. He was worse than Marcus in many ways. Marcus was evil. Dr. Daniels just chose to act the way he did out of some warped sense of needed acceptance. Gabe would enjoy killing him.

When Gabe didn’t respond, Dr. Daniels picked up the remote and queued up the video. As had been the norm as of late, it started out with the same video of Nora and Marcus being intimate. Gabe knew that it would then switch to one of Marcus with the children. Lately, it had been a lot of repeats. No new material had been uploaded. A fact he found very interesting. Hopefully Nora was starting to come to her senses; realizing that something was very wrong in her marriage.

The video clicked on and as he’d predicted—it was Marcus and Nora, yet again. Gabe adverted his eyes, sick to death of watching them together. Dr. Daniels was satisfied with his response, truth be told, he’d been looking for a little more anguish. Maybe once new videos were added it would up the level of torture and despair. He’d have to speak with Marcus about why there hadn’t been much activity lately.

When Dr. Daniels finally left, Gabe let out a sigh. “About fucking time,” he muttered under his breath. He wasn’t naïve enough to think that the room he was being held in wasn’t under surveillance. If he was going to do this, he had to move fast and be ready for whatever came through that door to stop him. Sliding his right hand loose, he made quick work of the restraint on his other arm and then slipped the knife free using it to cut through the bindings at his feet. There was no time to rub the circulation back into his ankles, he got out of the chair and was at the door in seconds. He stopped short when he saw the keypad and swore. “Fuck!”

After trying a series of numbers and being met with an offending blinking red light, denying him access, he gave up trying to crack the code. If Theo was here he could have had it open in seconds, that man was a mastermind at that type of shit. But he’d also taught him a few tricks that he was about to put to good use. He retraced his steps and grabbed the stainless steel chair from Dr. Daniels’ desk. Lifting it, he aimed the leg at the keypad and hit it over and over again until it finally short-circuited and the steel door slid open. Dropping the chair to the floor, he readied himself. His muscles felt rusty from unuse, leaving him no choice but to rely on his instincts to get him the hell out of there.

Out in the hall, he spotted one guard a few feet to the left and beyond him what looked like the main entrance to a house. It was no surprise that Marcus was once again operating from inside the walls of a home, it was the best cover. Stealthily moving towards the guard, he was caught unawares from behind by an arm winding around his throat. Seeing the needle from the corner of his eye, he knew it was Dr. Daniels. He forced his elbow back into his gut and the arm around his neck slipped free. He spun and brought his fist down into his injured eye socket again and again, ignoring his screams of pain.

The guard rushed him but Gabe made quick work of him by sweeping his feet out from under him. He lost his grip on his rifle and it flew up into the air, right into Gabe’s waiting hands. He looked the fucker right in the eye when he pulled the trigger, ending him. The sound of shots alerted what he assumed was more guards. He quickly patted the guard down and finding a set of keys, palmed them and raced for the door.

The bright daylight had him squinting in defense against the light. It had been two years since he’d seen daylight. Two years. The rage of injustice boiled inside him again but he had no time for that now, he needed to get the fuck out of there and home to Nora. He spotted a black Hummer several yards away and ran to it, climbing inside. He tried every key on the ring but none were the one for the ignition.

“Shit.” He ripped open the steering column and got to work hot-wiring the car. It had been years since he’d had to do it and he was rusty, but like most things—it was like riding a bike. He almost had it when the door to the house opened and three guards emerged, armed. He knew he’d been spotted when they immediately headed for the Hummer. He started to sweat, making his fingers slippery on the wires. “Goddamn it, come on!”

One guard reached the driver side door and Gabe kicked with his feet, catching him on the chin before he raised the rifle and blew him away. He went back to the wires and this time the engine roared to life, just as the other two opened fire on the Hummer. He ducked and threw the vehicle in reverse as bullets pummeled the car. Keeping his head as low as possible, he spun the steering wheel to the left and the car angled right at them with the open door the perfect window he needed. A few shots left them dead on the ground and Gabe wasted no time slamming the door shut and driving the hell away from his nightmare.

He wasn’t surprised to see how close he was to home. After twenty-five minutes of driving, he pulled up to the ranch and cut the engine. It looked exactly how he remembered it, not much had changed at all. Climbing out of the car, he headed towards the main house, ignoring the calls of greeting from the ranch hands that knew him. A few steps from the porch he heard raised voices coming from inside the house and he hurried to open the door and get inside in case Nora was in trouble. He found her locked in a shouting match with Marcus, who looked angry and menacing as he got in Nora’s face. She was backing away a few steps in surrender, her hands coming up to ward him off.

Furious that Marcus might have harmed her, Gabe stepped forward and let the door slam closed behind him. They both turned their heads at the sound and froze. Nora’s mouth widened in shock and her hand covered her heart. Marcus looked even more angry if that was possible and he swore in frustration.

Gabe stared at both of them, torn between wanting to yank Nora into his arms and stab Marcus in the balls. He did neither, they were all locked to their spots, unsure of what to do. Gabe spoke first.

“I’m back.”

*     *     *

West had been
sitting in the interview room for what felt like hours. He’d spent three days in a cell not knowing what the fuck was going on. No one spoke to him or even let him have the chance to make a phone call. He was going out of his mind with worry for Aubrey and replaying every second since the murders started trying to figure out how the fuck Autumn’s things ended up in his house.

That morning, one of the deputies came to get him and brought him to this room where’d he’d been cooling his heels ever since. In reality, it’d only been about twenty minutes since he’d been brought in there, but it felt like a lifetime.

The door opened and Brady, Sheriff Moore and a woman he didn’t recognize came in. She had short blonde hair and was dressed in a no-nonsense navy blue suit with a white blouse. West could only assume she was the FBI.