Chapter Eighteen

“You lost her?” Harlan yelled into the office phone. “How the hell did you manage that? Never mind, I don’t want to hear your excuses. When did you last see her and how long ago?”

He checked his cell phone. Lilah had texted him thirty minutes ago she was going to visit her aunt. He should have insisted they hold Thad until Lilah had returned home. So much for trusting another person to keep an eye on her. If anything happened to Lilah, it was on him.

“Is there a problem?” Sammy asked.

“Yeah those agents that were tailing Lilah called. Apparently, she’s gone missing. I’ve got to go.”

Sammy grabbed his cruiser keys. “I’ll drive. Where to?”

“Thaddeus Tedder’s.”

They hightailed it to the cruiser. Thunder rumbled in the distance and already a few fat drops started falling. Sammy put on the blue light through town. Once they hit the main county road, he shut it off. “Fill me in on what happened.”

“All I know is that Lilah texted me that her aunt had called and wanted her to visit. Lewis assigned an undercover cop to tail Lilah, so I thought all would be fine. But the guy called and said that Thad had returned home and he heard screaming from inside the house. He knocked on the door to investigate, and was told that Lilah had run out the back door and into the woods.”

Sammy frowned. “Here we go again. But if the cop’s with Thad, she should be safe.”

Harlan held on to that thought for the ten minutes it took to arrive at Thad’s. He strode up the porch and marched inside, not bothering with a knock.

Thad was sprawled on the sofa, head in his hands, while his wife sat at the far opposite end, as if trying to keep the farthest distance possible. The undercover cop sat across the room. He rose and nodded. “Brian Forney, Georgia Bureau of Investigation.”

Harlan dismissed him with a quick nod.

“I’ll take a look around out back,” Sammy offered, standing in the doorway. “See if Lilah’s hiding close by.”

“Thanks.”

Lilah knew Sammy. If she was near, she’d go to him. Harlan faced Thad.

“What happened?” he demanded.

“It’s time to do the right thing,” Viola said. “Lilah knows the truth and so do I. Might go easier on you if you tell it.”

Harlan pinned him with a stare. “Spill it. I need to find Lilah.”

“It was me,” Thad said, staring down at his feet. He drew a loud, unsteady breath. “I killed them hookers.”

“Their names were Raylene Rucker and Amzie Billbray,” Harlan corrected. “They had names and friends and families.”

Forney spoke up. “After all these years, we’ve captured the Hillside Strangler.”

We? The man hadn’t done anything except lose Lilah and plop his ass in a chair. But whatever.

“What did you say to Lilah?” Harland continued, focusing on Thad.

“Officer Forney heard shouting.”

Thad reluctantly lifted his head. “She had my things. I lost my temper.”

Harlan’s own temper threatened to snap. “Did you—”

“Nah, I didn’t lay a hand on her. Vi came between us and made me listen to reason. Lilah ran out the back door—she was scared.”

Forney unlocked a pair of handcuffs from his belt and started toward Thad. “I’ll handcuff Tedder and take him in.”

“I’m not done talking to him yet,” Harlan snapped. The officer was champing at the bit to take Thad in and claim he’d had a hand in capturing the murderer. Not that it mattered to him, but he wasn’t finished with Thaddeus.

“You confess to killing Raylene and Amzie. What about Chauncey and Darla? Did you kill them as well?”

“Nope. I didn’t do it.” Thad picked up a leather pouch in his lap and cradled it in one palm. “I couldn’t kill my own kin. Takes a special kind of sick to do that.”

As if there was much of a distinction. As if Thaddeus had a moral imperative higher than any other murderer. Those kinds of hypocritical

rationales were the sort spouted by hard-core inmates from inside a state penitentiary.

“Save it for the judge,” Harlan barked. He needed to break Thad now while his wife was encouraging him, and before he got locked up in the county jail and had time to worry about saving his ass from the death penalty.

Yet every second that ticked by, he was aware that Lilah was alone and frightened in the woods. He hoped any moment that she and Sammy would walk through the door.

Viola sniffled and spoke up. “What’s going on with Lavon? Is he coming home tonight?”

Poor woman. She was fixin’ to have a lifetime of lonely nights in an empty house. “No. He’s confessed to distributing drugs and has been charged.”

“He’ll be locked up for years,” Forney added.

Harlan shot him a warning look. That comment wasn’t necessary and did nothing but waste valuable time. “Perhaps you can visit him tomorrow,”

Harlan said to a sobbing Viola. He turned his attention back to Thaddeus.

“What’s that in your hands?” Harlan asked.

A spark of nearby lightning lit the room, followed closely by a clap of thunder. Sheets of rain assaulted the walls and windows. Damn it, Lilah was out in this storm.

Thad didn’t respond to the storm or the question.

Viola jumped up, her thin body trembling. “Give that damn thing to the cops,” she screamed at Thad in a high, shrill wail. “What the hell kind of monster did I marry?”

She snatched the pouch out of Thad’s hands. No doubt, the man would have put up a fight if he hadn’t been so startled by his wife’s uncharacteristic outburst.

Viola thrust it at Harlan. “He’s ruined my life and Lavon’s life. Our boy thinks the world of his daddy. Wanted to be just like him. But at least Lavon’s not a killer.”

Harlan opened the pouch. It was all there. All the missing evidence.

“How did you get the bracelet back? J.D. give it to you?”

Thad nodded.

The depths of J.D.’s despicable behavior stunned Harlan. He’d suspected his boss of turning a blind eye on the drugs and marijuana trade—but murder? That was a whole new level of low.

Harlan picked up the diamond ring and held it to the light. “Darla’s?”

“Yeah, but I didn’t kill her. I swear!”

“Then how did you get possession of her wedding ring?”

Thad clamped his mouth shut.

“These are all related,” Harlan insisted. “Lilah found the jewelry taken from the strangled women in her dad’s cabin. Chauncey was killed. She gave the necklace to Darla, and then Darla was killed. Lilah wore the bracelet for a time—now someone’s after Lilah.”

“You want to serve time for all the murders?” Forney cut in. “Maybe we can cut a deal for the old murders, but not for two members of your own family.”

Damn Forney. The last thing Harlan wanted was for Thad to start thinking about arranging deals. He wanted the name of the second killer.

And he wanted it now.

To hell with protocol. Harlan grabbed a fistful of Thaddeus’s shirt and hauled him to his feet.

“Who is it?”

* * *

LILAH TORE THROUGH the backyard and into the woods without a backward glance. It was like the earlier chase—except this time she knew the face of the killer. And instead of heading down the mountain, this time she’d be fleeing upward.

“Lilah! Get back here!” Thad’s voice boomed from behind.

Fat chance.

The familiar pine-strewn path was narrower than she remembered from her childhood days. The needles were slick with rain and mud slushed her sneakers. Her feet sank into the ground that had instantly turned to a sticky, sludgy mess. It slowed her progress and strained her calves, but the good news was that it would be much more difficult for her heavyset uncle to sludge his way through the muck.

She was going to make it—unless he returned to his house and got his gun. She was fit and fast, but she couldn’t outrun a bullet.

No, no. Aunt Viola would stop him. Focus on one step at a time. That was the way to get through this.

Low-lying branches slapped at her face, chest and arms. Her T-shirt and jeans clung to her body and her teeth chattered. Her right shoe stuck in the mud and she stopped to grab it. Leaning against an oak, she slipped it back on and paused to catch her breath. Not too much farther to go to reach safety.

A burst of thunder roared and she cringed. The danger of getting hit by lightning might be better than the chance of Thad lumbering nearby. Rain continued pouring and she sighed. Time to get moving again.

She crossed a small wooden bridge over a swollen creek and knew she was close. Squinting through the downpour, Lilah spotted the cabin and the welcoming warmth of light from a window. She sprinted to the porch and peered through the foggy glass pane.

Uncle Jasper was seated on the sofa with the family bible open in his lap.

A shotgun hung over the fireplace mantel. Here she’d be safe and protected.

It was surprising that he hadn’t heard her clumsy stumble onto the porch, but the storm must have drowned out the noise. He enjoyed solitude and met visitors on the porch, usually not inviting them into his inner sanctum.

Lilah rapped at the window. She must be a sight—as wet and as muddy as a stray dog left to fend for itself in the harsh elements.

Jasper dropped the bible and half rose from the sofa, squinting his eyes at her form. Bedraggled as she must have appeared, she was recognizable and the startled consternation in his gray eyes morphed to one of surprise.

He disappeared from view a moment and then the back door screeched open.

“Lilah? What are you doin’ out there in the rain? Everything all right?”

“I—I think so.”

She wanted nothing more than to throw her arms around her uncle’s quarrelsome old neck, but he would have hated that. Lilah took a quick glance over her shoulder. Past Jasper’s junky backyard, the tree line to the woods loomed large and foreboding, as though it contained ancient dark secrets and harbored beasts both animal and human.

But no Thad emerged, wielding a gun.

Jasper waved her toward the door. “C’mon in.”

She hugged her elbows at the waist and entered as Jasper shut the door from behind.

“I was running from Thad. I was afraid he’d hurt me.”

Jasper tugged at his beard, regarding her calmly. “I tried to warn you.

He’s a dangerous man.”

“I didn’t know how dangerous. Not until Aunt Vi handed me the jewelry she found. Did you know—”

Jasper walked to the window and drew the curtain closed.

“Did you see him? Is he out there?” she asked breathlessly.

“It’s just the two of us.”

Her shoulders drooped in relief and she sank down onto the sofa. The cushions were still warm from Jasper’s body. Her uncle settled in the rocker across from her.

“He’s a murderer, Uncle Jasper. The Hilltop Strangler. He killed those two women and...and I think he might have killed Dad and Darla.”

His brows rose. “That so?” he asked, as though she’d commented on the weather.

“You don’t believe me?” She waved a hand dismissively. “It’s true.

There’s proof. We’ve got to call Harlan. Tell him to arrest Thad.”

“You haven’t already called?”

“No. I left their house without my purse or anything. He wanted to kill me, Uncle Jasper. It was in his eyes. I ran out the back door and Aunt Vi got between us. I ran straight here.”

“So you did.” He picked up his pipe from the side table, filled it with a pinch of tobacco and proceeded to light it.

“Don’t you get it?” she asked, frustrated by his wall of calm. “I was chased through the woods. Thad could be here any moment.”

“Not likely. He’s too lazy for that.”

She shook her head, disappointed and hurt at his lack of concern. She would take care of this herself. “Where’s your phone?”

“Ain’t working.” He drew on the pipe and then exhaled cherry-scented smoke. “Storm must have knocked out the line.”

Damn it. Lilah buried her head in her hands and fought against the urge to scream in frustration. Instead, she jumped up. Action was the antidote to get through this ordeal. “We’ve got to lock the windows and doors.”

Luckily, there were only three windows. She latched the front door and eyed the shotgun. “That thing loaded?”

“Always is.”

“Good.”

She eyed him as he rocked in the chair, puffing away. “Can you close the back window while I get these up front?”

“You ain’t got nothing to fear from Thaddeus now.”

“You don’t understand. Aunt Vi found jewelry he stole from those women he murdered. He’d hidden it behind the bathroom plumbing. He walked in on us and saw that we knew. It made him crazy. He wasn’t going to let me take the evidence to Harlan.”

“Course not. This is most unfortunate.”

“Unfortunate?” Lilah snorted. “I’d say it’s a bit more dire than that.

Thanks for your concern,” she added bitterly.

“You set everything in motion the minute you came back here to Lavender Mountain and found that stuff Chauncey stole.” He made a tsking sound. “A shame Thad couldn’t have found it first.”

“Are you talking about the money? Why does it matter who found it?”

“I ain’t talking about the blackmail money.”

“Look, I don’t know what trash Thad’s filled your head with, but Dad didn’t blackmail him,” she said hotly. She’d had it with everyone putting down her dad, especially when it came to his own brothers. “He knew he was dying and asked Thad to help him out. For us. His kids.”

Her throat swelled, threatened to close shut on her. Okay, so taking the money wasn’t her dad’s finest moment. But he’d done it for Jimmy and Darla, and for her. In his own bumbling way, he had wanted to help.

The scent of cherry tobacco made her stomach roil. It clung heavily in the room now that one of the windows was shut. Which reminded her—

Lilah strode past him and slammed the back windows shut, too.

“You mind not smoking right now?” she snapped. “I know it’s your house, but it’s making me nauseous.”

Jasper scowled. “It’s never bothered you before.” His eyes traveled down her body. “You ain’t with child are you? I’ve heard rumors.”

Lilah bit her lips. She’d deliberately not said anything to Uncle Jasper, knowing his strict religious bent. But since he’d outright asked... “Yes. I’m pregnant.”

“Harlot.”

Lilah shook her head. He hadn’t really said that—had he?

“You turned out no different than those fallen women Thad killed.”

Jasper dropped his pipe in the ashtray and it clanged as loud as a dropped shotgun shell. Burnt ash spilled out of it like bits of molten lava. Lilah couldn’t tear her gaze away. She didn’t want to look up and see the disgust in Jasper’s face.

“I thought you were different from your sister,” Jasper continued. “She was always trash. But you—I had hopes you’d turn into a decent, respectable lady.” Gone was the detached tone and odd indifference. His voice crackled with condemnation. “Now look at you. Pregnant, unwed and living in sin.”

She lifted her chin. “Don’t you dare talk about my sister that way. Or me, either. After today, you’ll never have to see my face again. Trust me on that.”

“No doubt.”

The eerie calm had returned, as though he’d slipped back on a mask.

“How about letting me borrow your truck,” Lilah said stiffly. She wanted out of the smoky, stuffy room. “I’ll see it’s returned to you tomorrow.”

Jasper bent over, picked the bible up from the floor where he’d dropped it earlier and then rifled his fingers through a jar filled with ink pens. He selected a crimson one and laid it in the middle of the book where their ancestry tree was located.

Crimson.

Ernest, Dad and Darla’s names had been scribed in the color of blood.

Lilah took a step backward. “If you’ll just give me those truck keys,” she said desperately. “I’ll go away and never come back. Promise.”

“We both know it’s too late for that. Poor LayLay. You’ll be the hardest one of all.”

“I—I don’t know what you’re talking about.” She took another step backward, mind in a whirl. Somehow, she’d stepped into the twilight zone.

“Look, just give me the keys—”

“Chauncey was a blackmailer. A man can’t treat his family like that. It’s wrong.”

This was no alternate universe. This was real. If she wanted to survive, for her baby to live, she’d better get it together.

“You’re right,” she agreed, playing along. “It was wrong. Dad shouldn’t have done that.”

“I had to kill him. What kind of man threatens to turn his own brother into the police? Chauncey found that jewelry and guessed the truth. Only a matter of time before he ruined everything.”

“You knew Thad killed those women?” she asked, breathless.

“From the start.”

Jasper stepped past her.

She couldn’t help asking. “Why didn’t you do something?”

“They were nothing but harlots. An abomination. Still, he shouldn’t have killed them. We had an agreement. He wouldn’t tell anyone I’d killed Dad, and I’d keep my silence.”

He lifted the gun from the mantel and cocked the slide, checking the chamber. “Yep, loaded.”

“But killing your father was like—self-defense. Right? He hurt you.”

“That’s the way I seen it,” Jasper agreed. “Shot him cold in the back and claimed it was a hunting accident. Only mistake was that I didn’t know Thad was watching.”

“So when you found out Thad strangled those women, you couldn’t say anything for fear he’d turn you in.”

“Exactly.”

Lilah backed all the way into the doorway, feeling behind her for the door handle. Where was it?

Jasper gave a crooked smile. “Go on and open the door. We’ll take a little walk.”

What was she thinking trying to get outside? Better to stay inside. Jasper was crazy—not stupid. If he shot her in the cabin, he would never be able to cover up the crime. “It’s—it’s raining,” she stammered, grasping at straws.

He barked a laugh.

She scooted along the side of the wall, away from the door, not daring to turn her back on Jasper.

“Did you kill Darla, too?”

“Had to. Stupid chit. All over that cheap glass bauble. Thad and I tried to reason with her, offered to get her another necklace in exchange. But she’d taken a shine to it. Or so she’d claimed. Kept asking why it was so

important to us, demanding to know why we wanted it. She always was the sassiest little ole thing.”

Lilah hoped that the killing had been quick, that Darla hadn’t known what was coming. “So y’all argued. Did you force her to hand over her wedding ring?”

“That came afterward. Thad said the missing ring might make it look like a possible robbery.”

No, Thad had only wanted to expand his sick collection of tokens. They were both responsible for her sister’s death, but she still wanted to know who had pulled the trigger.

“Was it you or Thad that shot Darla?”

“Me. I’m the eldest. The one who cleans up his little brother’s mess.

’Sides, Thad’s a coward at heart.”

“Big words from a man who shoots defenseless women in the back.”

The broad side of his free hand smacked her across the face and she fell to the floor. Pain exploded in her right cheek and ears. Lilah hunched up, instinctively shielding her stomach from another blow.

The next landed on her right thigh—a vicious kick.

“Get up,” he commanded.

Lilah scanned the room, desperate for a weapon. Her eyes lit on the bible and she crawled to it, picking it up and clutching it to her chest.

“Put that back on the table,” he ordered. “You ain’t worthy enough to be holdin’ it.”

“You wouldn’t shoot a woman holding a bible, would you?” She inched away from him, needing to get out of striking range.

Jasper swooped down and grabbed a handful of her hair. “Get up now!”

The book fell out of her hands and she rose to her feet, tears blinding her eyes. “Okay, okay. Please stop hurting me.”

His grip released a fraction. “And now we take that walk.”

He marched her to the door and thrust it open. Her scalp was on fire.

This was it. She was going to lose the baby, lose Harlan, lose her life. In ten minutes, she’d be nothing more than another death her uncle recorded in crimson ink.

Wind swept the rain onto the porch and the sky rumbled. He would force her into the woods now and shoot her in the back like he’d done with Dad and Darla.

“Please,” she begged. “Don’t shoot me. I won’t tell anyone.”

“Damn straight you won’t.”

* * *

HARLAN CLIMBED IN the cruiser, adrenaline spiking his body like a bolt of lightning. Lilah had run from the lion’s den right into the belly of the beast.

Sammy scrambled onto the seat beside him. “I’ll radio for backup,” he said. “We’ll send a search team to check the woods in case she didn’t make it all the way to Jasper’s.”

He didn’t answer. All his attention was on the slick roads. The windshield wipers blasted away sheets of rain, squeaking out a message. Hur-ry, hurry, hur-ry.

“We can’t help Lilah if you get us killed on the roads,” Sammy warned.

“Should have let me drive again.”

“I got this.”

“She’s going to be okay,” Sammy promised.

He had to believe that, had to cling to that bit of faith. Otherwise, he couldn’t function.

The tires squealed as he rounded a bend a bit too quick. The cruiser spun wildly in a half circle before he regained control.

“Not so fast,” Sammy cautioned.

Easy for him to say. His wife and kid weren’t in danger.

Finally, finally he arrived at Jasper’s.

Two figures were on the porch. Damn this rain. His vision was limited to one-second patches of clarity as the wipers continued their frenzied action.

He hit the accelerator and then skidded to a halt at the ramshackle cabin.

His heart jackhammered at the sight of Jasper poking a shotgun at Lilah’s back. No! He jumped out of the car, pulling the pistol out of his side belt.

“Stop!” he ordered. “Drop the gun, Jasper.”

Lilah’s gray eyes, turbulent as the storm clouds above, lit on him.

And then, he knew the truth.

He loved her.

Madly. Heartbreakingly, bone-crushingly loved her. Probably always had.

How could he have been so stupid for so long? He couldn’t lose Lilah. Not now—not ever.

“Let her go!” Harlan ordered. “Set the gun down and put your hands in the air.”

Jasper lowered the shotgun to his side, but he grabbed Lilah in a chokehold with his free hand.

“You ain’t takin’ me alive,” he shouted. “And if I go, she goes, too.”

Jasper backed up to the door. Bastard was planning to barricade himself in the cabin with Lilah as his hostage.

“Don’t do it, Jasper,” he warned. “Let her go now or it will only end up worse for you.”

“Couldn’t be no worse,” he huffed, dragging Lilah with him.

Lilah pulled at his arm and kicked his shins, but Jasper’s hold didn’t loosen.

He couldn’t let Jasper get her inside the cabin. Harlan holstered his gun, lunged forward and leaped up onto the porch.

Jasper shoved Lilah to the side and started raising his shotgun.

There was no time to draw his pistol, or get out of Jasper’s way so Sammy would have a clear shot at the bastard. Harlan did the only thing he could do. He dove at him, hoping to knock the shotgun out of Jasper’s hand before the shot went off.

He didn’t make it.

A roar exploded and a tremendous pressure burst on his left shoulder.

Lilah’s scream echoed in his brain. The shotgun. He focused his eyes on it and managed to fall forward, knocking it out of Jasper’s hand. It clattered on the wet rotting floorboards of the porch.

“Harlan.” Lilah leaned over him, eyes wide in horror. He felt blood ooze from his shoulder. Soon, the pain would set in. For now, shock and adrenaline kept his mind sharp and focused.

“I’m okay,” he said with a rasp. “Go get in the car and stay low.”

Jasper’s footsteps pounded by them. Coward was running away.

Harlan pulled himself to a seated position. He could still shoot with his right hand if Jasper came back toward them.

“Halt, or I’ll fire!” Sammy yelled, aiming his pistol at the fleeing Jasper.

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