Her Mother's Killer (17 page)

“Thea, I didn’t mean… Jesus.” He sighed and reached for her. She frowned at him, but he ignored it. “I’m sorry.”

She held herself still then a second later, she melted against him.

He kissed her temple. “I didn’t mean it.”

She looked up at him, and if he could reach his own ass, he would kick himself. The wariness had returned to her gaze.

“Don’t worry about it.” She kissed his chin, then slipped out of his arms. All the warmth from their breakfast was gone, leaving him alone with his thoughts in a cold kitchen.

* * * *

After Duncan left, Thea cleaned the kitchen and started to look over the letters to her mother again. But no matter how hard she tried, her mind kept drifting back to Duncan.

Her only experience with sex had been with Jason. Never in the course of their marriage had it ever been that great. Sure, at first she thought it would improve but she knew now it never would have.

At the time of their courtship and marriage, she’d thought they shared great passion. But Jason, already a police officer with the Atlanta PD, saw her as a meal ticket. She’d met him about the time she’d been named one of the up-and-coming chefs in the southeast US. He’d known she would make it big—she was already making good money. And she had thought the passion went both ways, but she knew now, after her nights with Duncan, that neither of them had felt it.

Nothing had prepared her for Duncan, for the incredible yearning that welled up in her when she thought about him. From the start of her relationship with Jason, he’d complained that she didn’t seem to need him. Here she was less than three hours after Duncan left, and she was wishing he was home.

As if conjured up by her thoughts, her cell phone buzzed and she knew it was him.

“Got a dress for tonight?”

“Tonight?”

His sigh was audible over the phone. “I have to go the Cattlemen’s Ball, and because I have to go, so do you. Michelson will be needed here, and with that going on, there will be problems. Drinking and cowboys always cause problems.”

She didn’t want to go, didn’t feel like trussing herself up, but she knew if she refused, he’d have to make a choice between her and his duties.

“I have a dress that should work.”

“Good. Stay out of trouble.” Then he hung up. She should have been irritated but instead she smiled. She appreciated a man who knew what he was about.

But she knew now she needed to work even faster. If she had to get dressed up—which would involve hose and makeup—she had less time to devote to reading over the letters.

A few letters later, she noticed something in one of them that sent a chill through her whole being. The letter was dated a month before her mother’s murder.

I watched you at that picnic. So happy, with little Thea and Jedidiah. I could see myself with you, completing the family. Your husband can never make you as happy as I can. I worship you. Do you think of me when he touches you?

She shivered. She thought about her mother reading this note, knowing that bastard had watched them, thought these things. She shivered again.

There was one thing she was sure of. The picnic he wrote of was her father’s birthday picnic. They’d had it one of the few times Jed had been back from college. It’d been at their house and was by invitation only.

The bastard had come to her parents’ house as a friend and then killed both of them a month later.

We’ll find him,
 she promised her parents silently. 
No matter what.

* * * *

Duncan looked over all the reports of murdered women. At least six women in the past four months had been killed in the area. All dark-haired, green-eyed.

Knowing Rusty could give him some answers, he picked up the phone and called his old friend on his cell.

“Hello,” Rusty said.

“Reckless.”

“Oh, Duncan.” He voice relaxed. “Whatcha doing at the office on a weekend?”

“Caller ID, huh? Still can’t get used to that. You sounded a little irritated. Is this not a good time?”

“Oh, no. I was worried something had gone wrong at home. You know, with Mom in her seventies—”

“Oh, of course. Well, I’m calling for work. I need some help on these murders in the area.”

Rusty sighed and Duncan could hear the tension in his voice. “Yeah. They have us a little baffled, too. There’s no DNA to link them, but the MO is exactly the same.”

“All look alike?”

“Yeah. Black hair, green eyes. Between five-four and five-six and late twenties to early thirties. The one strange thing is that although they were all shot, different guns were used with each murder.”

“Hmm. Think they’re linked?”

“Well, they look alike. They’re all dumped off on farm roads, shot. But nothing concrete to go by.”

“Rusty, cut the BS.”

“Off the record, yeah. Too similar.”

“I have a theory I want to run by ya. You coming into town tonight?”

“Of course. On my way right now. I’m Mom’s date.”

“You lead a sad life, Rusty.”

He chuckled. “At least I’m not going stag.”

“Neither am I. Got a date. Of sorts.”

“A date of sorts?”

“Thea and I are going together.” Silence greeted his announcement. “Rusty?”

“Still here, Dunc. You mean you’re dating Thea, Jed’s little sister?”

He hoped Rusty didn’t get a hold of Jed before Duncan had a chance to explain to him just what the hell was going on, but he said, “I guess you could say that.”

“Isn’t she married?”

“Divorced. She’s the reason I’m looking into these murders. I think they may be linked to her mother’s death.”

For a second or two, he remained silent. “Jesus, Duncan.”

“Yeah. Drive carefully and we’ll hook up tonight.”

He needed to find out what had happened to Hammond Barker. All he could remember was by the time he returned to Crocker, the Barkers had moved on to another parish. Other than that, he didn’t know the family very well. They’d had grown children who never visited and his family attended another church.

Problem was, his mother would be the best source for information. Town gossip flowed through her like the Rio Grande after a thunderstorm, but she’d want to know more. Gina walked past his door.

“Gina.”

She poked her head into his office. “Whatcha need?”

“You remember Hammond Barker?”

She leaned against the doorjamb, her brow wrinkled in thought.

“Scary tall preacher with big horse teeth? He always drove that faded green Ford pickup.”

“That’d be him. Have you ever heard what happened to him?”

“Well, he left town that year of the Johnson murders. Went somewhere down south. I heard he was fired from the church. Something to do with improper conduct.”

“Improper conduct?”

“Yeah. Something to do with an affair or something like that.”

“An affair?”

She shrugged. “It’s been a few years. I do know he and his wife split after that.”

“How do you know all this?”

“Oh, my sister went to his church and the scandal was their main gossip for months.”

“Aything else?”

She frowned. “He’s been in jail.”

“Jail? And you mentioned all that other junk first?”

“I just remembered. Anyway, his lady friend split up with him and it seems he didn’t agree. That all?”

“Yeah.”

He turned back to his computer and started running down the lead. Thirty minutes later, he leaned back in his chair and thought about the implications. His stomach clenched.

Hammond Barker had spent time in jail for stalking and raping his ex-mistress. Problem was, he’d been released from jail six months earlier and never made it to his first parole hearing.

He’d vanished into thin air.

Chapter
Fourteen

Thea pulled on her third stocking in two minutes and released a sigh of relief when she actually succeeded. Gwen would be there at any moment, and Thea still wasn’t dressed. Her nerves were frayed around the edges. Even though everyone they knew thought Duncan and she were meeting up at the dance as friends, she knew better. But she had to make sure no one, not her brother, Gwen, or the killer, knew they were involved.

As she retrieved her dress from her closet, she thought about the fight she’d had with Duncan that morning. It really wasn’t much of one, but she knew if it had gone on, both of them would have been yelling at each other. And, as weird as it sounded, it didn’t bother her. She had seen her parents go head to head a few times. Not once in her whole marriage had she and Jason fought. Jason’s form of fighting was quietly freezing her out until she would apologize—even if she hadn’t done anything to apologize for.

After grabbing a pair of black heels, she hurried downstairs. She slipped on her shoes then looked at herself in the mirror. The emerald green velvet dress hugged every last curve of her body. Gwen had convinced her to buy it a few years ago when her friend had come to Atlanta for a visit. She’d told Thea it would look great, that the color was perfect. It emphasized her eyes, almost matching them perfectly. But she was not used to wearing something so revealing. From the front, it was demure enough for a church social. It was a plain dress, long-sleeved, showing very little skin. But the back…

She turned, and looked over her shoulder. The back of the dress was almost nonexistent. Her entire back was exposed, from her neck to the small of her back. She wiggled her rear end to make sure the material didn’t slip.

A horn sounded and she grabbed her handbag and coat and rushed out the door.

* * * *

Duncan arrived half an hour later than he’d expected and parked his truck a fair ways from the VFW hall. Every big function in the town was held in the hall, partially because of the size and mostly because they had a liquor license.

As he hurriedly walked to the front door, he put on his tux jacket. He’d had a long day of investigating and coming up with dead ends. Then he’d called Thea to tell her he would be late and she should ride with Gwen, and they’d fought about that. The woman was more stubborn than anyone he ever met. But after threatening her with revealing what was going on to Jed, she’d acquiesced. She couldn’t understand that just being alone was dangerous. More company, less chance the bastard would catch her alone.

He shoved his hands through his hair, trying to put it in some semblance of order. Finally, he was inside the building and his eyes instinctively searched for Thea. He saw Gwen. Thea was not standing dutifully beside her as he’d told her to. He scanned the room as nerves bunched his stomach muscles.

She better be inside the building.
 If not, he would put her over his knee as soon as he got a hold of her. That thought gave him a few ideas about what else to do with her once they got home.

Duncan stalked over to Gwen.

“Hey, Duncan. How was work?” Gwen asked. For once he didn’t return her smile.

“Fine. Where’s Thea?” His tone was abrupt but he didn’t care.

Gwen smile widened. “She’s dancing with your Uncle Chris.”

He placed a hand on each hip and surveyed the room. He spotted her two-stepping with Chris. She smiled at something Chris said. Thea was a beautiful woman but tonight she was stunning. The green of her dress matched her eyes. It was form-fitting, but not as revealing as some of the other dresses on display tonight. It was sexy without being trashy. Classy, just like the lady.

As he watched them, his chest began to hurt and he realized he’d forgotten to breathe. Duncan took a breath, filling his lungs and exhaled just as Chris spun Thea around a corner. Her back was to him and that was when he realized she was practically naked. And Chris’ hand was splayed on her flesh. A wave of heated anger surged through him.

A red haze materialized out of nowhere blinding him to their objective.

“What the hell is she doing dressed like that?” He turned to face Gwen. Gwen raised one eyebrow as she sipped her wine. Maybe the tone in his voice was a bit possessive. “How could you let her wear that dress in public? It’s indecent.”

Gwen smiled, her light blue eyes sparkling with humor. “I helped her pick it out.”

Duncan muttered a curse that had Gwen laughing harder. The music had stopped and the band announced they were going to take a break. He turned and headed toward Thea. Halfway there, he realized he’d been taking off his jacket to cover her.

He knew the moment she saw him. Her eyes widened and she stopped in her tracks. Duncan continued on the same path, and halted within inches of her. She dropped Chris’ arm and swallowed.

“Duncan,” Chris said. “Nice to see you could make it. I know some years it’s hard to get away.”

Duncan never took his eyes off of Thea. “Yes. I wouldn’t miss it this year for anything.” Under his intense stare, Thea’s skin reddened. He couldn’t tell if she were angry or embarrassed. “It seems you’ve procured my date.”