"Going somewhere, Lieutenant?" The female murmur came from behind him.
He blew out a breath. "Carmichael. Haven't you done enough?"
"I haven't done anything today. And I won't. I never even saw you."
He turned, eyes narrowed. "Excuse me?"
"You're going in." She lifted a shoulder. "Don't need to be a rocket scientist. I would appreciate a few words when you come out. Just watch Mitchell. Regardless of what you might think, I hold her in high personal regard. She thinks she's indestructible."
"I know." He started walking again. Bulletproof, Jack had said. Lucky, Mia believed. All too human. Reed knew. He slipped through backyards until he came to Annabelle Mitchell's. The main gas valve would be in the basement. A set of entrance steps went down into the ground. He crouched at the base of the stairs, prepared to break in. But one of the panes in the door was already broken The door was unlocked.
Kates is here. Reed cautiously opened the door, slipped inside. Now so am I.
Monday, December 4, 9:35 a.m.
Mia let herself in Annabelle's front door with her key, her weapon pointed down behind her leg. The last time she'd been here was the day they'd buried Bobby. Now Bobby meant nothing. Getting Jeremy out unharmed and stopping Kates meant everything.
He was here already. She could feel it from the moment she walked through the door. There was an eerie stillness to the place. She crept to the kitchen doorway and drew a silent breath. Annabelle sat in a kitchen chair a foot from the stove. Hands and feet tied with twine. Mouth gagged. Dressed in only her underwear, she shivered violently. Her body gleamed, coated shoulder to hips with the solid accelerant
Kates had used six times now. The stove was already pulled away from the wall, his intent clear.
Her mother's eyes met hers, terrified and… full of the furious contempt Mia knew so well. Her mother had always blamed them for Bobby's violence. Mia supposed this time her mother finally had it right. Kates was here, she was in danger, because of me.
No gas filled the air yet. Either Kates was still preparing or he was waiting to spring his trap. She scanned the kitchen, wondering where he'd put Jeremy. Her mother's eyes followed her, narrowed, as Mia crept into the kitchen opening the cabinets under the sink. It was the only place large enough to hide a small boy. But they were empty.
"Help me." It was really two muffled grunts from behind the gag, but Annabelle's eyes left no question as to the translation.
Mia put her finger to her lips. Then she pulled a knife from the block on the counter and prepared to cut her mother's bonds. With one less hostage, she could focus on Jeremy. She'd taken a step toward the chair when a voice stopped her in her tracks.
"Put the knife down, Detective."
Even though she'd mentally prepared herself for exactly this sight, Mia's heart froze. Jeremy stood trembling in front of Kates, one of Kates's gloved hands in his sandy red hair and Kates's long shiny blade at his throat. Jeremy's freckles jumped out from his white face. His eyes were terrified and… full of desperate trust.
"You've seen what my knife can do, Detective," Kates said smoothly. "So has the boy. Haven't you, Jeremy?" She watched his fingers tighten in Jeremy's hair, watched Jeremy's small jaw tighten as he struggled to control his own fear. "Put down the knife."
Mia set the knife down, hilt out so she could grab it quickly if the opportunity arose.
"And the gun." He yanked Jeremy to his toes. "Now. Kick it over here."
Again she complied, and her gun went sliding across the kitchen floor.
"Mia." It was Spinnelli's voice in the earbud she prayed Kates wouldn't suspect. The wire she wore gave Spinnelli and the others a view of the inside. The earbud was her link to the command center in the van. "Get him into the living room. I have snipers with a clear shot through the front window. The boy is small. We'll aim high. Out."
One flick of Kates's wrist and Jeremy would die. The snipers couldn't fire until Jeremy was clear. She had to get him to let Jeremy go first.
"Don't hurt the boy." She didn't plead, didn't command. "He's done nothing to you."
Kates laughed. "He has and we all know it, don't we, Jeremy? He told you I'd been there. Led you to my things."
"No, he didn't. We found the house on our own. Jeremy said nothing."
"Impossible."
"Truth. We found the car you ditched the night you killed Brooke Adler. It had an aftermarket GPS you didn't see."
His eyes flickered. He was annoyed with himself. Good. "So?"
"You like animals. You let out the cat and dog before you set the houses on fire."
His jaw cocked. "I'll repeat the question. So?"
"And you had access to curare. We checked vet clinics and pet shops and their employees in a one mile radius of the car we found. And we found Mrs. Lukowitch."
His mouth flattened to a line. "And she told. I wish I'd killed the bitch myself."
"No. She lied. But not well and that made us suspicious. We found your stash the old-fashioned way, Kates. Good detective work and a search warrant. Jeremy said nothing. Let him go." Kates stood still as stone. "He's only seven. He's innocent." She took a chance and prayed. "Like Shane was before your aunt's husband."
The hand that held the knife tightened on the hilt. "Don't say his name." Kates's chin came up, eyes narrowing. "I don't recall seeing a single sweater like that in your closet. I only remember those clingy shirts that you wear to show off your breasts because you're a tease. You're wearing a vest. Take off the sweater, Detective. Now."
"Mia, keep the vest on," Spinnelli said with urgency, but Kates lifted his knife to the underside of Jeremy's chin and sliced, just deep enough to draw blood. Then the knife went back to the boy's throat.
"Take off the sweater or the boy dies right in front of your eyes."
"Mia." Spinnelli's voice held a thread of panic. "Don't."
Tears were welling in Jeremy's eyes. But he never wavered. Never whimpered. Kates's brows lifted. "I cut Thompson's head nearly off his body. Jeremy is so much… smaller. You want that on your conscience, Mitchell?" He pulled Jeremy's head back and the steely look of determination in his eyes left Mia with absolutely no doubt he'd make good on his threat.
"All right."
"Mia!" Spinnelli barked it. Mentally she tuned him out. The camera was buried in the sweater's fibers below her left shoulder. If she could drape the sweater on the counter so the camera pointed out, Spinnelli would still have a clear view. Carefully she pulled the sweater over her head and put it on the counter. And prayed.
Kates's lips curved. "Now the vest."
"Goddammit, Mia. Do not take off that vest. That's an order."
Her fingers were steady as she pulled at the Velcro. "You protected Shane, Andrew. You sacrificed yourself to Tyler Young to keep him safe." She was pulling at the Kevlar vest slowly, strip by Velcro strip, hoping to make headway before she was completely at his mercy.
"I told you not to say his name." He straightened abruptly and Jeremy sucked in a breath as he stood on his toes.
Mia wanted to beg, but kept her voice calm. "I'm sorry. I know it hurt you to lose him. I know you've been paying back that hurt all week." Her fingers had paused on one of the last remaining Velcro strips. Kates's eyes were fixed on hers. She was getting through. "But I also know that it all started when Jeff and Manny hurt Thad."
Anger flashed in Kates's eyes. "You don't know shit." He clenched his teeth. "Take off the damn vest. Now, before this kid's blood runs like a river."
Damn. Her fingers pulled at the last strip. The vest hung loosely on her body now. "I know more than you think I do, Andrew. I know what it's like to be on the receiving end of the same sacrifice you made for your brother. My sister did the same for me."