Ripper (Tortured Heroes Book 5) Page 10

  “I love you. Be careful.”

  Chapter Nineteen

  Sam

  When Gwen asked to get a few things at the store, I jumped at the idea. I wanted out. I needed a little taste of independence after the bizarre nightmare that had overtaken the last few days.

  It was good to be able to walk out of the building without worrying something or someone was going to jump out at me. In a short space of time, my concept of freedom had changed dramatically. I was also incredibly aware that thanks to the things that the FBI and Kyle specifically had done, I was alive.

  Gwen and I both had a reason to be incredibly grateful as we walked to my rental car. I wanted to reclaim my independence as soon as possible. It would be so easy to stay hidden behind Kyle, but that’s exactly why I left. Jerry was under arrest. The danger was over.

  “Alright. Let’s get you situated.” Gwen sat in the passenger seat and I navigated to Meijer. They weren’t the height of fashion or anything, but they’d have everything she’d need from a change of clothes to toiletries. Everything she’d brought to Michigan was now in an evidence locker. It was a small project. But it was also a step to take control. We both needed it.

  “What’s Meijer?” she asked as she looked out the window.

  “Like Walmart, but based in Michigan.”

  “Oh, so has Agent Duvall seen your rental car?” Gwen asked. It was a weird question, but I continued to chalk everything Gwen did or said up to the fact she’d been through a terrifying ordeal.

  “No. It was just dropped off for me. He’s busy, as you saw, so I sort of jumped the gun on us getting out of that office when you asked about getting a few things. You’re doing me a favor, giving me a reason to get out for a little while. I have been so penned up and well, you too.” I winced at my own choice of words. She had been held captive in a much more scary way.

  “That’s good. I’m glad it’s just us two.”

  “Yeah.”

  “So you’re very happy with Agent Duvall?”

  “What do you mean?” I didn’t think we’d made it obvious in front of Gwen, but she was apparently very sharp.

  “You’re fucking him. Just making conversation.”

  “I, well, that’s personal.” I was on edge. What the hell kind of question was that? I barely knew Gwen. I struggled to find a safe subject to change the direction of the conversation.

  “Personal. I really know everything about you. Surprised to hear it?” I glanced from the road to the passenger seat. Gwen was no longer looking out the window, but was now staring straight at me. There was look in her eye that made me feel uncomfortable.

  “Uh, yeah. We barely know each other. What are you talking about?” I wondered where her strange demeanor was coming from.

  “I know you turned down Jerry.”

  “Well. Yes. You know what he was like. He hit on a lot of people.”

  “I suppose.” She stopped staring at me and turned to the window again. She began to shake her foot. Was all this a delayed reaction to what she’d been through? I started to question the wisdom of making this little trip with her. I had clearly underestimated how traumatized she was by what happened.

  “We’re almost to Meijer. You’ll feel more normal when I get you a few things you need.”

  “Oh, I can afford it. I’m not your charity case.”

  “I didn’t think you were. I just know you don’t have your wallet.” This was getting worse and worse. I wanted to get out of this enclosed space. The air in the car felt toxic with Gwen’s increasing agitation.

  The last thing I remember was putting the car in park. Then everything went dark.

  Chapter Twenty

  Kyle

  Jerry was in booking. My part was over. There were loose ends to tie up at the office with today’s arrest.

  I had paperwork to file on every part of my portion of this case. I didn’t want Jerry to slither off the hook because of some technicality that I could prevent.

  I was still on edge and wished Sam could have waited to go on her errand with Gwen, but I knew I had to work to get over that. I wanted to put her in bubble wrap. That was the surest way to get her to run. I didn’t want to smother her, but it was going to be hard. I texted her. I wasn’t as ready to let her go as she was to get out. One text wasn’t too intrusive. I hoped.

  “You at Meijer?”

  “No, decided to do Target. My favorite!”

  Okay good, they were shopping. Sam was fine.

  Just that little exchange helped me put her out of my mind while I finished work. I reminded myself that the man responsible for all this was locked up now. I’d seen to it myself.

  I immersed myself in the paperwork. I crossed checked it against Scully’s information. And I double checked that I had done everything by the book. The swollen nose probably would not be appreciated, but that was the only scratch on him.

  I hoped that under interrogation he would reveal where the bodies of the girls who were still missing were.

  I was sure the profilers would learn more about his past and how he twisted his obsession with Sam into this killing spree. I wondered how much, if any of it, would she want to know. I worried about how it would be for Sam to be associated with this killing spree. Part of my work would be to determine how much anonymity The Bureau could offer her in this case. I knew Sam. She wouldn’t want her name forever linked in history books to The Las Vegas Ripper.

  Now that Jerry was revealed, it all fell into place. Everything lined up neatly from the locations of the victims, to Jerry’s travel schedule, to his proximity to the women he’d murdered.

  There was a background file being developed on Jerry Moore. It would get larger and more complex. The amount of research and dissection that happened around a serial killer’s psychological makeup was a field unto itself in The Bureau. I flipped open what was there so far and began to read.

  Jerry Moore didn’t have a record; he also didn’t appear to have a troubled family life or a history of violence. Sometimes you saw roommates or neighbor complaints about odd behavior. But not in his case. He seemed like an average guy. Nothing stood out. But maybe that’s why he was able to do what he did. Could he control his impulse to kill? He certainly couldn’t control his impulse to hit on women. That was clear in the file and from what I’d seen myself. The guy was certainly lecherous. Was that where it stemmed from? Sam rejected him, and others certainly had to, so did he fixate on punishing those women?

  Another thing in the file raised a question and that was the onset of the behavior. He was in his mid-thirties when it appears the behavior started. Likely we were missing the early years, and he was smart enough to hide it well. That thought was chilling.

  I wasn’t the only agent combing through what we knew and trying to put together the pieces of Jerry Moore, serial killer. It was all new, but it was becoming clear that some of the pieces didn’t fit.

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Sam

  My head hurt. Why did my head hurt? I put my hand up and there was a knot on the left side of my skull. I pulled back and saw some blood on my fingers. I’d hit my head. What had I hit my head on? Where was I?

  I looked around and realized I was in my rental car. The back seat. The sun was going down. We were in some dockside area of Grand City. Near the river. I could smell the water.

  I sat up. I was by myself in the car. That was good. I was getting the fuck out of here.

  Wait. Gwen. Had Jerry gotten out somehow? Had he gotten Gwen and me? I looked at the ignition. The keys weren’t there. Shit.

  Where were the keys?

  “Oh, you’re up. Good.” I jumped a foot. It was Gwen.

  “Jesus. What happened? Did we get in an accident?”

  “No dear. I tasered you and you hit your head.”

  “Why the hell?”

  “Get out of the car. Or I’ll fucking taser you again and this will take WAY longer.” She waved what I assumed was a taser at me. I did what she told me to d
o. What was happening?

  “Let’s go.” The air was cold and that was helping pull me out of the fog I’d woken up in.

  “Where?”

  “Down there.” She pointed to a brick building with a glass dome. The door was falling off; it was clearly abandoned. I walked toward it and saw a sign the read Grand City Canoe and Paddle. It was some old riverfront attraction long since forgotten. I tried to determine how far it was from downtown Grand City. I could see the skyline. Maybe we were a mile away?

  Gwen pushed me into the building and propped the door closed. It smelled dank, of dead fish, mold, and something else. I gagged a little.

  “How about that?” I looked down and there was a woman, with dark hair, at my feet. Her skin was gray. She had that gruesome smile carved into her face.

  I screamed. The Las Vegas Ripper wasn’t Jerry. The Ripper was a woman. Gwen.

  “No one can hear you. This is a good spot. Trust me.”

  This time I saw it coming, but not fast enough. Gwen zapped me with the taser and I fell to the dirty floor right next to The Ripper’s latest victim. I was certain I was next.

  “Congratulate yourself. She’s your fault. They all are.” Gwen was talking. That maybe was my only hope. I wondered if she had talked to the woman on the floor. To Debbie Sanders, to that sorority girl, or did she just kill, maim and dump?

  I decided I needed her talking.

  “My fault?”

  “Yes. I love him you know. And he loved me. But he is polluted by you.”

  “Jerry?” So Gwen was obsessed with Jerry?

  “I don’t have any claim on Jerry. You should be with Jerry.”

  “I tried. We were happy. He was happy with me.”

  “Okay.” I searched my brain for what Jerry had said about Gwen. I was sure it was a brief relationship and more like just another woman he’d banged. That was Jerry. But clearly, Gwen didn’t get the memo. She had a lot invested in whatever she and Jerry had.

  “Oh, you’re going to act like you don’t know?”

  “Every woman, every single one he’s been with since you, looks like you. But they really look like me. He really loves me.”

  I tried to put together her sick logic.

  “Jerry doesn’t love me. You’re right. He loves you.” Agreeing with her seemed to be my only play.

  “Well, it’s too late. He ignored me too long. He pretended with you and then the others, so I showed him. His prints are all over everything. I made sure of it.?”

  “Gwen, you’re not thinking this through. Let me call Kyle and help sort this out. They’re going to figure this out.” I realized she’d maneuvered me out here, to be alone, to be vulnerable.

  She looked at me. Then she paced a bit. I started to put together how she’d been able to overpower and then kill all these women. It wasn’t drugs, it was the taser. It was strong enough to put me down and then I was stunned and couldn’t move. In my case, she’d tasered me on the cheek the first time.

  Was that why she carved up the faces? To hide the taser mark? To cover her tracks?

  “Good. Yes. Call Kyle.”

  Then she started to laugh. Her hold on reality was loose at best. Was she always like this?

  “Oh wait, I threw your cell phone in the river.” So she was lucid enough to know calling Kyle would lead to her own arrest.

  “Did Jerry date all these women?” I knew Gwen for sure, and Debbie, but what about the rest?

  “Some he did. Some he didn’t. They just looked like his type. I was making sure he didn’t get distracted. He needed to be back with me.”

  “Does Jerry know what you did for him?” I used her phrasing. Maybe agreeing with her was the way to go? How did I get her off her crazy train? Was that possible? When she was in the hospital and at the FBI offices, she was lucid. She might have been a little odd, but this was a different Gwen.

  “No, he doesn’t. He doesn’t have a clue. He never had a clue. We could have been so happy, but he kept calling you. I saw you at the bar. Then you two moved away together. He doesn’t realize how evil you are? I had to eliminate the competition. I had to kill you over and over and over. Though now, he won’t be able to torture me anymore, will he?” She scratched at her face and drew blood. I had to keep it together. Kyle had no idea where I was.

  I was supposed to be back at 7 p.m. Would an alarm go off in his head when I wasn’t there? Or would he think I was just enjoying a shopping trip with an old friend? Good old Gwen?

  I knew one thing, I needed out of this space. I needed away from that taser because if she did get me again, she might finish the job and I’d be in the same position as whoever it was, dead, next to me.

  Gwen Stock continued to scratch at her face.

  “So, we need to get this cleaned up. Then you. Then we worry about you. Sam. Sammy. Sam. Always Sam. Did you know he has a picture of you on all his computers and phones and iPads and everything?” I shook my head, no. No, I didn’t know.

  She had wanted to send Jerry a message. I tried to piece it together. She was obsessed with him and she thought he was obsessed with me. First, it was about getting back at him, then at me? I wasn’t sure if I could follow the twisted path of what was driving her.

  Maybe I could get her to turn down another path. One that didn’t leave me dead on the river bed. Maybe if I could convince her that Jerry loved her? That she had a chance.

  “Gwen. Gwen. He does love you. Not me. I swear it. I was a distraction from you. You are right. But now, I don’t know. He’s going to know you got him thrown into jail.” She stopped scratching her face.

  “Because I was so angry. I needed to show him. If he was going to be deceived over and over again, I was going to show him. The only way it would stop is with him in jail or dead. And I couldn’t kill Jerry. No. No. Not Jerry.”

  I had no idea what I was going to say to her. But I had to convince her that I had a way to get Jerry Moore out of jail. I needed to convince her that keeping me alive was the key to convincing Jerry to love her. It wasn’t logical. It didn’t make sense. But Gwen’s brain was a jumble of longing, unrequited love, misplaced motives, and rage. The rage scared me more than anything else, but it was there, and I better damn well treat it with respect. That rage had killed half a dozen innocent women.

  I needed to be able to run, scream, anything to get away from this monster.

  “Oh, I know how to get him out! I’ll kill you while they’ve got him. Then they’ll know they made a terrible mistake.”

  This was not going in the right direction. I was going to have to fight.

  “No, you need to keep me alive. I need to tell Jerry how much you love him. I know he’ll listen to me about this.”

  “He’s done listening to you and so am I. No one is going to hear your lies and see your face ever again.”

  “Gwen. Let’s think.”

  “Let’s go. Grab that.” She pointed to the decomposing body on the floor. She wanted me to take it with us. Oh, my God. I was going to have to touch the flesh. I swallowed hard. I tried hard to remember this was once a person. This person didn’t deserve this. What would her parents want? Not this.

  She was laying on a blue tarp, the kind you’d get lay on your floor if you were painting. I used it to wrap her tighter and hoped I wasn’t hurting her. I guess I couldn’t, but I didn’t want to disrespect her. I wanted to cry over her, over all the victims. But I didn’t have that option.

  I used the tarp to drag her as gently as I could.

  “You’re going to have to be faster than that.”

  Gwen kicked the door of the abandoned dock house open. I wondered how often people came here. Did they ever? I tugged the body and it moved fairly easily. This woman had been small. Most of the victims had been. Gwen had to pick victims that she could manage.

  I tugged again and we were out on the snow-covered riverside. It was cold, but the river wasn’t frozen. I could see the water moving with an occasional chunk of ice. I was able to slide the ta
rp along the ground without too much of a struggle.

  “We’re going over there. Where we can get farther from the house. I’ve learned my lesson. We have to weight you two!” She smiled at me. I got it. Two. I was going to prepare this victim and it was a preview. Whatever I did to her, Gwen was going to do to me.

  The sun was almost set and the dark was gathering. The lights of Grand City weren’t that far away, but they may have been a million miles. The river bed ran along Water Street, but I knew it would be unlikely that any cars would see us down here. The bank sloped down toward the water. And as I’d noticed before, downtown Grand City wasn’t Manhattan at night. Only a trickle of cars drove along the water after business hours.

  Gwen had been doing this successfully for weeks. She’d been able to stay hidden in Las Vegas. She’d made mistakes here in Grand City. Maybe because it wasn’t her normal turf. I hoped that could help me.

  I decided to try to get her talking. If I couldn’t twist her logic in my favor, I’d think of something else.

  I knew in my gut I’d have to fight. I’d talk all I could, but it was my pre-fight. I’d seen it enough with the athletes I repped.

  What could I do to prep for this fight? I looked, assessed, and determined what she’d bring to hand to hand against me.

  She had a knife, a taser, but no gun that I could see. I had my wits, my will, and the instincts of a fighter. It would have to be enough.

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Kyle

  It couldn’t be Jerry. That was sinking in as I looked at his past and at the timetables. He was in the office several times, with Sam, when it appeared women had been reported missing. I also crossed checked the pizza delivery stabbing. Where was Jerry when that happened? I flipped through and there was an ATM withdrawal across town from him at that very moment when Sam was screaming in the hallway of her building. In that moment when maybe, just maybe, the killer made a mistake.