Frozen Past (20 page)

Chapter 38

On the ride back into the station, Jaxon remained quiet. Victoria had heard about the phone call, but when she asked him about it, he said the killer was just taunting him. He could tell she knew something else had happened, but she didn’t press him.

The fingerprints they had scanned into her cell phone of the boy had confirmed what they already knew. Quentin Jenson would never hack another computer again. Ever. The boys head had yet to be found. The dogs’ too.

When they were able to move the body and actually work on his computer systems, the FBI boys could do little with what they found. The Jenson kid had rigged the system to lock down if it was tampered with. Smart kid. Too damn smart. They had loaded everything up and taken it to Quantico to see if they were able to get anything useful out of it. It would take weeks and Jaxon did not have weeks.

Stopping by the Harrison house to pick up the Pemberton girl, they discovered the folks were thinking for themselves and Jaxon liked what he heard. If they could keep the killer guessing as to the whereabouts of the girl, it would buy them a little more time to track him down. The new message Jaxon got from the killer on the phone bothered him though, and he didn’t understand what was going on in the asshole’s head. The plan had changed. He was supposed to guess what that new plan was. Prick.

If he could think like a killer, then Smith would already be dead. Jaxon’s mind was not quite up to the task of sedating kids and then mutilating corpses, but he thought the killer might be gunning for the Harrison boy. It was just a gut feeling, and at this point, it was all he had.

“Are you going to let me in on the phone conversation?” Victoria said after they had been in the car for a while.

He told her.

“Is that all he said?”

He hesitated.

“Come on, Jaxon. What are you not telling me? I thought we were working on this together.”

He sighed and then coughed in his hand. “I got a little unprofessional with him.”

“And…”

“I told him I was coming for him.”

“So—I would probably have said the same thing.”

He paused again. “He told me Michael was nothing to him and I lost it. I started screaming at him and that’s when I told him I was coming for him.”

“Ah, Jaxon. I’m sorry.”

“That’s not all.”

She waited, staring at him.

“He turned off his voice altering device and let me hear his real voice. He said he told Michael I was coming to rescue him and I never showed up.”

She turned away and stared out the front windshield, silent. After a moment, he saw a single tear trace a line down her cheek.

“I don’t blame you, you know,” she said quietly.

“What?”

“I don’t blame you for what happened to Michael. I know you think I do, but I don’t.”

The air became like a dead thing in the car. Jaxon was having a hard time sucking it into his lungs.

“What are you talking about?” he said. “You left me. You said you hated me and you left.”

“I don’t think you remember things as clearly as you would like. I was out of my head with grief. I said things to lash out at anything and anyone around me. You did the same, but you decided to take all the blame and turn it into something you could hold onto. Something that numbed the pain, something that pushed me away. You drove me away.”

“You told me I killed Michael. You said that to my face.”

“I said
we
killed Michael.” Her voice broke. “We killed our son and I hated you for it. I hated you because I hated myself! We couldn’t stop it! We let him die and I hated myself.”

He pulled to the side of the road, angry drivers honking at them. He ignored them. “You wouldn’t look at me,” he said. “For days you wouldn’t even glance at me. Then when you did, I wished you would go back to ignoring me. I could see it in your eyes. Your baby—our baby was gone, and it was my fault. And the truth of the matter was, I knew you were right. I had let that monster have our son, let him take him away from me. I thought I was protecting him by going after the wrong madman, but in the end it was my mistake, my anger, my pride that killed Michael. And I hated myself.” He slammed his fist into the dash. “I still hate myself!”

 Silence followed for a moment as he tried to get control of himself. He looked at her and saw silent tears streaming down her face.

“I would have done the same thing,” she said. “I would have gone after the bastard like you did. I’ve thought about that night every day. Thought about what we could have done differently, what I didn’t do, what we missed. I’ve tortured myself and cried until I thought I would disappear. I wanted to disappear. I wanted to join him. It didn’t make a difference. It didn’t change a thing. I’m still here and Michael is gone and no matter what, I can’t bring him back. Michael’s gone and so were you. I needed you, and you abandoned me.”

She turned toward him and looked into his eyes. “I know how much you hurt,” she said. “I know because I hurt just as much. I feel everything you feel. You didn’t believe that, but it’s true. I didn’t know how to help you then, because I couldn’t help myself. But I need you. I need you to be there for me. I can’t take another day of this. I can’t live through this nightmare we’re still in without you beside me. I forgive you.”

He couldn’t look at her. His mind was whirling and everything seemed out of focus.

“Look at me,” she said and reached up and touched his face. He turned to her and saw in her eyes everything that had meant something to him in the past. Everything that had been missing since the day his son was taken from them. He could see Michael in her eyes and something snapped inside of him. He could hear it break. A sharp, quick, SNAP! and then a release. Something eased inside and he could breath. At least a little.

“I need you,” she whispered.  “I love you.”

He watched his hand move up to her face and touch her skin. The face he had loved so long ago, the face he could still trace in his mind if he closed his eyes. It was like touching an angel. A thing so beautiful and so forgiving, he gasped at the feel of her. Deep inside, buried beneath all the self hatred and loathing, he had longed to feel her, longed to see this look in her eyes, longed to love her. He pulled her to him and kissed her softly and she melted into him, the feel of her so familiar and so new at the same time. The kiss grew deeper and his hands moved over her, finding all the favorite places he remembered about her. Feverishly, he needed to touch every part of her, because he knew this wouldn’t last. Knew she would be gone and knew he would go back to feeling lost and ruined again. She clung to him hungrily and her hands clasped the back of his neck, fingers running through his hair like she always did and it drove him crazy.

Honking horns broke the trance and they looked at each other and laughed. Something passed between them and no more words needed to be said. He pulled into traffic and drove to his place where their clothes fell into a pile and she didn’t even have a chance to say hello to Reverb.

Afterward, as he held her, the afternoon sun warming their skin, she said to him, “We’re not going to let this happen to these kids. We’re not.”

He touched her face and she turned up to him. “No. We’re not.”

Chapter 39

Luke and Ellie had an epic day. The best they’d had in weeks. Jimmy and John had come over and they had all abused the air hockey table in the basement, then watched a movie while his mother made them supper. Chili dogs and tater tots. Even his sisters and brother joined in the party. Ellie laughed more than he had seen her laugh in a long time. It was good.

He could tell there was a tension lying just beneath the surface of everything, but if he didn’t think about it, he found he could ignore it. His dad stayed busy doing dad things, but even he joined in on a game of air hockey for a few minutes. He and Ellie beat him and his mom.

After Jimmy and John left, Ellie’s mom came by with her things. She stayed for a few minutes and talked to Luke’s parents, though Luke couldn’t hear what was said. Her mom looked distraught, but thanked them for taking care of Ellie. When she left, Ellie hugged her tight and held on to her. Her mother asked her if she wanted to come home and she said no. She needed to stay here for a little while. Luke would protect her. Her mother didn’t look so confident of that fact.

After she left, Ellie leaned her head against Luke’s and said, “I don’t think she wanted me to stay.”

“She’s your mom. She’s just worried about you.”

Ellie nodded against his forehead. “I miss her already.”

He took her face in his hands. “You can go home any time you want. You know that right?”

“Yeah. I’m just being a baby.”

“I want you to stay, too, but I know what it’s like being homesick. I don’t like being away.”

“But you like me here, right?”

“Duh?”

She punched him in the arm.

“I remember when we were in third grade,” Luke said, “and you spent the night at Sheila Everby’s house.”

She laughed. “You remember that?”

“Of course. You two snuck out and threw rocks at my window until I woke up.”

“And then we giggled like the stupid girls we were and ran away.”

“I knew it was you and called you back. You guys were in your underwear.”

“We were not!” she said, shocked. “That was pajamas.”

“Looked like underwear to me. I saw your pink panties.”

She turned red.

“Anyway, you guys stayed under my window for a long time and Sheila kept saying she wanted to go home but you didn’t.”

She was smiling. “You came down and she got mad and left,” Ellie said.

“Then we got caught and put on restriction for two weeks. Your mother was so mad at you.”

She laughed. “So was Sheila’s mom.”

“I missed you those two weeks,” he said.

“You did? I thought girls were ‘ucky’ back then.”

“They still are,” and he pulled away from her making a face.

She pulled him back to her and kissed him. “Are you sure we’re ‘ucky’?”

“Totally.”

They stayed close and quiet for a minute and then he said, “I wanted you to stay with me back then. I even asked my mom.”

“I bet that went over well.”

“She actually considered it for a minute and I thought she was going to let me ask you and then she said no, it wouldn’t be appropriate.”

“Well, I’m here now.”

“Yeah, but you’re even ‘uckier’ than before.”

“But I’m better at air hockey.”

“Ok—I’ll give you that.”

He reached up and brushed the hair behind her ear and let his hand linger at her neck. She leaned into it and closed her eyes. “Why does that feel so good?”

“Because I’m not ‘ucky’?” he said.

She smiled, but kept her eyes closed. “Guess again.”

“Uh—because I’m good at air hockey?”

“Just say it,” she whispered and opened her eyes, looking deep into his.

His whole being felt open to her as if she could see everything within him, feel everything he could feel, share everything he could share, everything that mattered. She was all around him, in him, part of him and the world faded away, her blue eyes the only thing he could see, the only thing he could feel, the only thing that was real. He couldn’t look away.

He finally whispered, “Because I love you.”

“Yes.”

Chapter 40

Jaxon walked into the station with Victoria following behind him. The mood was still somber as the loss of one of their own was still fresh, like an open wound, but the appearance of an old friend, even one who had defected to the Feds, was an occasion to be happy. She reveled in their camaraderie and many of the old timers had stories to relive and jokes to tell. Stansfield came over and gave her a hug. Her old partner looked awkward around her, but Jaxon could tell he was glad to see her.

It felt surreal to be in this room, with these people, and her here with him. They stole glances at each other and for a moment, Jaxon felt the world tilt. Almost as if time had doubled back on itself, the old and the new merging. It lasted only a second, and then the real world came back, just as it always did. Victoria’s cell rang, and it was Holt.

She took the call in a quiet corner and Jaxon kept looking her way. He didn’t know what he expected, but whatever he was feeling, it left a bitter taste in his mouth. She laughed loudly at something Holt said, and Jaxon actually felt a pang of jealousy. Looking inward, which was something he hadn’t done in years, it had been too painful, he chuckled to himself and realized he would have to fight for this woman if he wanted to have her back. Holt was now the enemy, in a sense, and that felt weird. She ended the call and came over to his desk. He must have had a funny look on his face.

“Ok?” she asked.

“Yeah—you?”

She nodded. “He was checking in. I hadn’t called him since this morning. He was updating me on the hacker’s computers we sent to Quantico.”

“Anything?”

She shook her head. “The geeks are working on it, but the kid was good. They don’t want to lose any of the data and are taking it slow.”

He nodded, not expecting anything new from them.

“Something’s bothering you?” she asked, sitting on the corner of his desk, the bruise on her forehead a little more prominent. The makeup she applied at his place had been rushed and she hadn’t been able to fix herself up as good as before. He grinned knowing he had something to do with that. She saw him staring at her head and said, “What?”

“Nothing.” He turned away. “I have this tingling going on in the back of my mind and I’m trying to figure it out.”

“Spidy-senses kicking in?”

“Yeah. Right.”

“Let’s talk it through and see if it brings something to the surface.”

“An FBI tactic?”

“Yes. It works. Just try it, alright?”

He sat back in his chair and spread his arms wide. “Go for it.”

She grabbed the chair from the desk next to them and pulled it up close to him. “What did we learn today?”

“That I still got it?” He grinned.

“Will you stop it!” she whispered. “Seriously—come on.”

“Alright, alright.” He sighed. “We now have four more dead bodies.”

“Right. The Hacker and his family. Quentin Jenson. What did we see there?”

“Lots of flies.”

“Are you going to even try?”

“Well, there were. Let’s see––more animal decapitations with the heads missing and the boy’s head which is also missing.”

“But the adults he left intact.”

“He did, didn’t he? I wonder why?”

“He made it a point to keep the dogs’ heads and some of the kids’ as souvenirs, just like he’s done in the past. With a few exceptions.”

Jaxon saw it right away. “Michael.”

“Right. Why was Michael different?”

“I don’t know.”

“Did Michael mean something different to him? I can’t make myself think like him. Michael keeps getting in the way. We’re too close to this.”

“I keep hearing his voice in my head, his real voice. He said Michael was nothing to him. I don’t believe him.”

“I don’t either.” She paused. “He also knew we had spent time with Luke and Ellie. He must have some way to see what they’re up too. We need to check Luke’s court and see if we can find any cameras.” She stopped. “Shit, he may know she’s there.”

“Even if he does, we’ve got guys crawling all over the house and neighborhood. His father owns a gun, too, and said he wasn’t afraid to use it.”

“I hope he won’t have to.”

He nodded. “Ok,” he said, “What else? He knows quite a bit about technology, yet he let himself be tracked by a bunch of kids.”

“He’s got to be arrogant,” she said. “We know he likes to taunt us, so he underestimated these kids. He’ll probably keep thinking he’s smarter than them and that may be a mistake. How did he know about the Hacker? That’s what’s bothering me.”

“Right––no cameras or web-cams in the Jenson area. Do you think he’s got a bug, or tap, on the Harrison’s phone? We never thought to check that.”

“I wouldn’t put it past him. Let’s follow up on that.”

He made some notes.

“Let’s keep working backwards,” she said. “Before the Hacker’s house, we were at the Harrison house talking to the kids.”

“We discussed the Hacker and talked them into giving him up. Ellie had also received a message from Smith saying he knew her father.”

“Leonard Worthington, and her real name is Eliana Worthington. Or at least it used to be.” He was typing into the computer and watched as information came up on one Leonard David Worthington. The last known address was Ellie’s.

“Nothing on him since he lived there?” Victoria said. “I’m calling Holt and see if we have anything in the database.”

She called him and while she was giving him the info, he scanned the rest of the file. Driver’s License records were clean. No citations or DUI’s. No arrests, either, but an old domestic disturbance call showed up. It was Ellie’s address way back in 1997.

“He’ll get back as soon as he has the info,” Victoria said hanging up. She leaned in close as Jaxon continued to scan the report. They both saw it at the same time. “You were the responding officer,” she said. “You made this report.” She looked at him stunned.

“I don’t remember,” he said. “I wouldn’t normally respond to a call like this. I must have been in the area and the patrol officers tied up somewhere else.” He thought for a second, then said, “No wonder she’s been such a bitch to me. She probably remembers me from that call. Damn! Why can’t I remember?”

“Is this what your Spidey-senses were tingling about?”

“Has to be.” He looked at the computer and scrolled down the screen. The report listed Madison Worthington as the caller. She had dialed 911 complaining that her husband was drunk and ‘out of his head’ breaking things and screaming at her. Apparently Jaxon had been able to convince the man to behave by ‘informing him of his parental duties and the consequences of neglecting those duties.’

“What did you tell him?” Victoria asked.

“I don’t know.” He thought about it but came up with nothing.

“Did you threaten to have Social Services take his son away?”

“Sounds like something I would do.”

“Yes, it does.” She gave him a look and stood up. “Come on.”

“Where are we going?”

“To see Madison Worthington—or Pemberton. Whatever her name is. Maybe she knows where he is.”

They pulled up to the house to find the older brother messing with what looked like a model airplane. The engine was running and he was revving it up and down while he held onto it with one hand. White smoke was streaming from the exhaust. It sounded like a bunch of angry bees or even a miniature chain saw.

Jaxon and Victoria walked up and he shut the engine off, looking irritated.

“Patrick, right?” Jaxon said.

The kid nodded.

“Is your mother here?”

“Yeah. She’s inside.”

“Pretty cool toy,” Jaxon said leaning down and looking at it. “Is it hard to fly?”

“I don’t know. I haven’t tried it yet. I just got it.”

“I’ll bet it was expensive.”

“I don’t know. It was a gift.”

“Does it burn that alcohol fuel?”

“Yeah.” Patrick reached down a grabbed a gallon jug of greenish fluid. It had some kind of pump attached to it. “This is what it uses.”

“Be careful breathing those fumes,” Jaxon said. “They contain a chemical that might knock you out. It’s called Diethyl Ether.”

The kid looked at him like he was crazy.

“Have fun,” Jaxon said as he turned and walked up to the door.

When they were out of earshot Victoria said, “What was that all about?”

“Just passing on some knowledge I learned,” he said, grinning.

“He probably thinks you’re an ass.”

“Maybe, but he’ll still remember it.”

“Doubt it.”

He knocked on the door and Madison Pemberton answered looking tired and a little greyer. Her face registered annoyance and then worry. “What happened,” she said quickly.

“Everything’s fine, Miss Pemberton,” Jaxon said. “We didn’t mean to worry you. We just wanted to ask you a few questions if you have a moment.”

“Don’t you think you should be out trying to catch the man who wants to hurt my daughter?”

“It’s related to the case, ma’am,” Victoria said.

“And you are…?” Madison said.

“Special Agent Elliot, FBI ma’am. The Detective and I are working on the case together.”

“May we come in?” Jaxon said.

She hesitated, and then opened the door wider and stepped aside. Jaxon let Victoria enter first. The layout was very similar to the Harrison house only flip-flopped so the stairway was to their right as they entered and the half bath was to the left. She led them into the living room and asked if they wanted anything to drink.

“No thank you, Miss Pemberton,” Victoria said, sitting in a chair that looked horribly uncomfortable. Jaxon chose the couch.

“Miss Pemberton,” Jaxon said, “we’ve met before all of this, haven’t we?”

She nodded. “I didn’t think you remembered. 1997. I had to call the police on my husband and you were the responding officer.”

“What happened?”

“You don’t know?” she said, surprised.

“It’s been a long time. Refresh my memory.”

“My husband was not a pleasant man,” she said. “He had been drinking and we got into a fight. I was pregnant at the time with Ellie and was not providing him with enough—uh—‘entertainment’ as he put it and he started slapping me. He was a hitter. I ran from him and called the police. Your delayed arrival allowed him to drink even more. As soon as you arrived he started in on you, and you had to—subdue him. Patrick was two at the time and was crying from all the shouting. My husband screamed at him to shut up and you then threatened to take the child away if my husband didn’t settle down. He must have gotten the point, because he stopped struggling and shut his mouth. It was like a switch had been turned off.”

Jaxon nodded, remembering now. The man had been huge. Six-four, six-five, two hundred fifty pounds at least. The only reason Jaxon was able to get him on the ground was because he was staggering drunk.

“Leonard was very protective of his son,” she continued. “He did not appreciate you threatening him and he told you…”

“That I would regret it.”

“Right—so you do remember.”

“It’s coming back.”

“I was surprised you didn’t take him in,” she said, looking directly at him.

“It usually only makes things worse. He seemed under control after that.”

“He beat me with a belt.”

Jaxon didn’t know what to say.

“I almost lost the baby and had bruises that stayed for weeks.”

“I’m sorry,” he finally said.

She turned away from him and stared off into the distance as if it didn’t matter. “It’s over and I’m free of him.”

“Did he ever touch you again?” Victoria asked.

“No. My father took care of that since the police couldn’t seem to.” She turned and looked him in the eye again. He had to look away.

“My father stayed with me for months and pointed a shotgun at him every time he came around. He finally got the point. My father even fired it at him, but if it hit him we never knew. He left and has never been back.”

“I’m truly sorrow, Miss Pemberton,” Jaxon said. “The system failed you and I don’t know what to say. I feel like I let you down.”

“You did,” she said bluntly. Then dismissed it. “It doesn’t matter,” she continued, waving her hand at him. “All that’s in the past. What I want from you now is to not fail me again. You need to find this madman and stop him from hurting my daughter. Can you do that?”

“Yes, Miss Pemberton,” Victoria said. “We can.”

She looked Victoria up and down, and then nodded once.