Laying Down the Law (15 page)

Chapter Sixteen

Cord was a thousand percent sure that returning to the prison was a bad idea, but there was no way he was going to pass up the chance to question Willie Lee about this latest bombshell.

Or maybe it was just a lie.

After all, Willie Lee clearly loved Karina, and maybe this was his way of saving face with her by trying to make her believe he was innocent.

Of course, that meant bringing Karina with him, since she wanted to hear what Willie Lee had to say, as well. With the memory of the attack still so fresh in her mind, Cord had hoped she would stay at the ranch.

No such luck, though.

She was right by his side again as they started the process to get them through security.

“You’re sure Willie Lee never mentioned anything about having a brother?” It wasn’t the first time he’d asked Karina that. The first time had come shortly after the doctor’s call, but Cord was hoping that the thirty-minute drive out to the prison had jogged her memory.

But just like before, she shook her head. “Then again, he didn’t mention having kids, either,” she reminded him.

Yeah, failing to tell anyone about a brother wouldn’t have been much of a stretch after that. The man could have a dozen siblings for all Cord knew. Plus, there were plenty of other things that Willie Lee had omitted. Maybe he would blame that on his fuzzy memory, but he’d clearly remembered something.

I’m not the Moonlight Strangler, but I believe I know who is. I think it could be my brother
.

Cord hoped Willie Lee had a name to go along with the accusation. And while he was hoping, maybe this mystery brother would be someone the cops could arrest before Karina and he even finished this visit.

“We should ask Willie Lee about Lonny Ogden, too,” Karina added as they made their way through the second checkpoint. “I’m sure it’s something Addie would want to know.”

Cord certainly hadn’t forgotten that name. Hadn’t forgotten that he had another half sibling out there.

Well, maybe he did.

Lonny Ogden was flat-out crazy, and that wasn’t just Cord’s opinion. Ogden had been committed to a mental hospital, where he would likely spend the rest of his life, and he didn’t know any more about his birth parents than Cord did. However, Cord, Addie and Willie Lee all shared DNA with Ogden. That was a fact. And it was enough DNA that it was possible Ogden was Cord and Addie’s half brother.

Once they made it all the way back to the hospital section, there was a guard there who motioned for them to take a seat by the nurses’ station. “Dr. Kenney said for you two to wait here, that she’ll be out soon to take you in to see the inmate.”

Hell. Cord didn’t want to wait. Or sit. He had way too much restless energy inside him so he started to pace. Karina paced with him.

“If you want to get your mind off this,” she proposed, “we could talk about what happened this morning.”

He doubted she was referring to the phone calls now. No. One look at her, and he knew this was
the talk
.

Of course, he’d expected it. Cord seriously doubted Karina was the sleeping-around type. Neither was he. But despite that, they’d landed in bed for exactly what he’d known it would be—great sex.

“Or maybe we won’t talk about it,” Karina added when she studied his face. “What, did you think I was expecting some kind of commitment? Because I’m not.” She suddenly got very interested in looking at her fingernails. “I just wanted to make sure you’re, well, okay with it?”

“Are you?” he asked.

She nodded. Patted his arm. The gesture was a little too quick, her smile a little too thin, which meant she wasn’t okay with it. However, that wasn’t what she said.

“It worked.” She gave him another thin smile. “I got your mind off the rest of this mess.”

He flinched a little at having sex lumped into
this mess
, but she was right. Just the mention of the talk that he wasn’t ready to have had gotten his mind off Willie Lee. But it didn’t take long for the thoughts and questions to creep right back in.

So much to consider.

“What if Willie Lee really does have a brother?” Cord decided to say that out loud, hoping it would help him work through it. “And what if the brother was the stalker Sarah told us about?”

The one who’d cut Addie’s face.

Something that still turned Cord’s stomach. That ate away at him even more than Sarah or him being in danger when that stalker had taken them. Of course, now he had a new reason for his stomach to twist and knot because every time he looked at Karina, it was yet another reminder that he hadn’t been able to stop this monster.

Heck, he didn’t even know if they were dealing with two killers or one.

Karina nodded, and made a sound of agreement after she gave what he said some thought. “You’re thinking this brother could also be the Moonlight Strangler? If it’s not Willie Lee, that is,” Karina quickly added.

It was exactly what he was thinking. And that took Cord back to their three suspects. “All of them, Harley, Rocky and DeWayne, are the right age to be Willie Lee’s brother.”

Maybe even Ogden’s father.

And that meant they were all the right age to be the Moonlight Strangler.

“All of them have sketchy pasts,” Cord went on. “Harley failed that psych eval. Rocky is a serial-killer groupie. And DeWayne had a personal connection to at least two of the murder victims. Any of them could have started killing back when all that happened with Sarah.”

And just kept on killing.

However, Karina must have seen a flaw in his theory right away because she shook her head. “Wouldn’t Sarah have known if her own brother-in-law was the one stalking her and attacking her?”

“Maybe not. She said he wore a stocking mask. And besides, maybe Willie Lee and he were estranged.”

There was another possibility, though. Perhaps Willie Lee knew exactly who—and what—his brother was and had maybe tried to keep him away from his family. After all these weeks of hating him, it was hard to paint Willie Lee in that kind of positive light, but it was something Cord had to consider.

“I should also have Jericho look in to Rocky’s adoption. And have him check deeper into Harley and DeWayne, too. It’s possible their birth records are fake.”

Having that information would help to prove or disprove what Willie Lee would tell them, but it was also info that could be needed when they made an arrest.

Which would perhaps happen today.

Cord reached for his phone to make that call, only to remember that he didn’t have his phone. Or his gun. It was prison policy that all electronics and weapons be left with the guards at the front entrance.

The door to the hospital room opened, and Dr. Kenney finally stepped out. She looked exhausted, probably because she’d been nursing her patient back to health.

Cord skipped the usual greeting. “Can we see him now?”

“Yes.” The doctor motioned for them to come in.

Cord stepped inside, his attention going straight to the bed where he’d last seen Willie Lee. He was still there.

But he wasn’t alone.

There was someone standing right beside him.

Sarah
.

* * *

K
ARINA
CERTAINLY
HADN
’
T
expected to see Sarah Prior at the prison. Not after she’d sneaked out of the bathroom. But here she was.

And she was holding Willie Lee’s hand.

Normally, Karina would have been pleased to see someone showing affection to a man she cared about, but she wasn’t sure she could trust Sarah. Even if everything the woman had told them was true, that didn’t mean she hadn’t come here to try to hurt Willie Lee.

Still, that hand-holding had Karina rethinking that particular worry.

“I was going to have you wait until his other visitor left,” Dr. Kenney explained, “but Willie Lee said he’d like to see all of you. She can’t stay much longer, though. Personal visits are limited to an hour, and she’s been here longer than that.”

“Why are you here?” Cord’s eyes were narrowed and fixed on Sarah.

Dr. Kenney, however, answered before Sarah could say anything. “She’s been trying to see him for a while, but it took several weeks to get the paperwork approved for a visit.”

“And who exactly did she say she was?” he asked the doctor.

That put some alarm on Dr. Kenney’s face. “His wife. Is that not right? Did they make a mistake with the paperwork?”

“She’s my wife,” Willie Lee insisted. He sounded a lot stronger than he had the day before.

Good.

Because he needed to answer some questions. So did Sarah.

“No touching,” the doctor said when she noticed the hand-holding. She aimed a look at the guard, no doubt a reminder for him to do his job and reinforce the rules.

Sarah eased back her hand, slowly, and Karina couldn’t be sure, but it seemed as if both Willie Lee and the woman hated the loss of physical contact. Heck, maybe they were in love. Or at least had been at one time.

As the doctor had done with their other visit, she stepped to the back of the room and got busy writing on a chart. The guard, a huge bald guy, didn’t budge, but he didn’t especially seem interested in what was playing out in front of him, either.

“You sneaked off yesterday,” Cord said, walking closer to the bed and with his attention still on Sarah. “Why?”

“The photographer was snapping all those pictures in and around the diner,” Sarah answered without hesitation. “I was afraid my photo would turn up in the papers, and he’s still out there. I didn’t want him to see me.”

He
.

The stalker.

And maybe the killer, too.

Sarah’s excuse was pretty weak, considering she was at the prison now, where lots of people could see her, but Karina would give her the benefit of the doubt. If Sarah had told them the truth, she’d lived her life on the run and in hiding for the past three decades. She probably didn’t trust easily and didn’t take many risks. Having her picture in the paper would have been a risk.

Besides, it wasn’t Sarah she wanted to talk to today. That could come later. For now, both Cord and Karina turned to Willie Lee.

“Start talking,” Cord insisted. “And this time, no memory lapses. I want a name and details.”

Willie Lee nodded. “My brother’s name is...was,” he amended, “Nicky Burnell. I don’t know what name he’s using these days, but I’m betting it’s not his real one.”

Karina silently repeated the name, and she figured Cord was doing the same thing. But it wasn’t a name that had come up in the investigations.

“Where is he?” Cord snapped.

“I don’t know. That’s the truth,” Willie Lee added when Cord gave him a hard look. “My parents divorced when Nicky and I were just six. We’re fraternal twins. Nicky went to live with my father—I never saw or heard from either of them again—and when my mother remarried, my stepfather adopted me, and I took his surname.”

Cord huffed. “So, let me get this straight. You haven’t seen or heard from your brother in fifty or more years, but yet you believe he’s the Moonlight Strangler? And even though you’ve been struggling to remember things, you just happen to remember that?”

“I didn’t piece it together until Sarah told me what went on that night you and Addie were taken, and it triggered the rest of the memories. I’m not sure why Sarah would have helped with that, but she did. Maybe because this is the first time I’ve seen her since all of that happened.”

“Because I thought it best if I stayed away,” Sarah whispered. “I didn’t want to get him killed, and I didn’t want that monster going after my babies again. I figured if I started looking for you, that it would make waves. And that he would find out about it.”

She’d been crying again. Or maybe she’d never stopped. Her eyes were red and swollen, but even with that and this awful situation, every time her gaze landed on Willie Lee, Karina saw the love Sarah had for him.

Cord obviously didn’t see the love, though. Or if he did, it didn’t play in to his emotions right now. He was all lawman and looked ready to pick Willie Lee’s story apart word for word.

“What did you piece together?” Cord asked him.

“That day he took Sarah and you kids, he left a dead woman at our house.”

Cord nodded. “I saw the picture. There was a picture of you, too, and you were holding a knife. Want to explain that?”

The sigh Willie Lee exhaled was a weary one. “He made me pose for it. Held a gun to my spine and said if I didn’t take it, he wouldn’t tell me where Sarah and my kids were. Of course, at the time I didn’t know that you’d been abandoned and that Addie and Sarah had escaped.”

Cord’s hands went on his hips. “You’re still not giving me what I want here. Why would you think that was your brother?”

“Because of something he said to me when he was cutting me,” Sarah explained. “He said this was to settle an old score with his brother. I wasn’t sure what it meant at the time. Truth is, I tried to forget what he’d said. And what he’d done.”

Even now, after all this time, Karina could see that just repeating those words shook Sarah to the core.

“What old score did he have to settle?” Cord asked, glancing at both Willie Lee and Sarah.

It was Willie Lee who answered. “I’m the one who told my mother about Nicky. He wasn’t right in the head. He liked to torture and kill animals, and one night I woke up, and he was standing over me with a knife. I rolled away from him just as he stabbed the blade into my pillow. He was trying to kill me.”

Like Sarah, there was plenty of emotion in Willie Lee’s eyes and voice. Mercy. He’d lived with a nightmare, and it crushed her heart to think he’d held all of this inside.

“After that, my dad and mom divorced, and my dad took Nicky away,” Willie Lee continued. “He was going to have Nicky admitted to some mental hospital in Mexico. He wanted to go where no one knew them, where they could get a fresh start.”

And that could have happened. But she also knew that torturing animals was a red-flag warning.

“You know DeWayne,” Cord said. “Wouldn’t you be able to tell if he was your brother?”