He started walking, her arm around his waist. “I’m so tired.”
“I know,” she said, her voice gentle again. “Let me drive back. You can sleep.”
He leaned over until his cheek rested on her head as they walked. “Thank you.”
“You’re welcome. I think I owed you before. Now we’re even.”
“We’re keeping score?” he asked soberly.
“Not anymore. I think you need somebody as much as I do.”
“You’re just now figuring that out?” he murmured.
Her arm tightened around him. “Don’t be smug, Agent Papadopoulos.”
Interstate 75, Sunday, February 4, 6:45 a.m.
Bobby finally drew a steady breath. The car from the rest stop was ditched. This car was a new one, stolen from a parking lot off the highway. What next? What next?
Tanner’s dead. It had been so much harder that she’d thought, pulling the trigger. I’m alone. I’m truly alone. There was Charles, but Charles had never been… family.
Tanner was my family. And now he was dead. But he never would have been able to run fast enough. She’d known it when she’d told him to trust her. Tanner had a fear of jail and he was too old to survive prison. He would’ve wanted it this way.
So now what? Susannah Vartanian. She was the only end left unsnipped. She’d been with Papadopoulos. She’d ruined everything. My business. My life. Now Charles would finally get what he wanted. For some reason he’d always hated Susannah, more than even Bobby had.
I could have killed her long ago. But putting it off had annoyed Charles-the only way Bobby had been able to control him when it was always the other way around.
Fine, Charles. You’re about to get what you want. I’ll kill her for you. Then I’m gone.
Atlanta, Sunday, February 4, 8:40 a.m.
They’d all regrouped around the conference room table, a strained mix of euphoria, exhaustion, and despair hanging over the team. Ed and Chloe, Pete and Nancy, Hank, Talia, and Mary McCrady. At Luke’s request, Susannah sat with them. Her quick thinking had led them to the girls tonight. She deserved to be in on the accolades.
“So we’re still not done,” Pete said when Chase finished. “Bobby’s still at large.”
“We got the girls, alive,” Chase said. “Not only the ones from the bunker, but Genie Cassidy and six others who had been lured from their homes. And that is huge.”
“We also recovered boxes of records from Bobby’s trailer,” Luke said, “showing proof of financial transactions between Bobby and her customers. Names and locations. We can prosecute dozens of perverts who bought children for sexual slavery.”
Chase’s smile had edge. “We provided the FBI with the locations of her truck stop whorehouses, which span from North Carolina into Florida. GBI agents right now are raiding ten different homes to rescue the girls Bobby’s most recently sold, including the girl sold to Darryl Haynes on Friday night.”
Ed’s eyes widened. “The guy running for state Senate on a family values platform?”
“The very same,” Chase said grimly.
“Haynes wanted a blonde,” Luke said. “And a blonde helped bring him down. Ashley Csorka’s escape changed everything.”
“How is she?” Talia asked.
“Sitting up and talking to her dad,” Luke said with a smile. “Who sends his thanks, and his wish that the man who tried to buy his child gets the same treatment in prison.”
“We have a lot to be proud of this morning. Every one of you did well.” Chase went on, soberly. “Granville killed the five girls in the bunker, but Monica told us it was at Rocky’s-aka-Kate’s command, and that Kate said, ‘Bobby said so.’ When we find her, we will be charging Bobby Davis with those five counts of homicide, in addition to the ten who’ve died directly at her hand. Add to that the attempts on the lives of Ryan Beardsley and Monica Cassidy-”
“And the abduction of God only knows how many minors and interstate forced prostitution and child pornography in that catalog we found,” Luke inserted.
“And she’s looking at about a million years behind bars,” Chase finished.
Chloe frowned. “Wait. Ten? There’s Rocky/Kate and Jennifer Ohman, the nurse.”
“And the nurse’s sister,” Susannah said.
“Okay,” Chloe nodded, “that’s three. Helen Granville is four.”
“Chili Pepper and his girlfriend make six,” Nancy said.
“The boy at the rest area and Tanner, the man who was driving the trailer, are eight,” Luke said, then looked at Pete. “And Zach Granger is nine.”
“Oh, gosh, I’m sorry, Pete,” Chloe said to Pete, distressed that she’d forgotten.
“It’s okay,” Pete said, fiercely, “but we have to catch this bitch and make her pay.”
“Tenth is the guard Corchran found dead at the back of her house,” Luke finished.
“If we count Darcy, she’s just one shy of an even dozen,” Susannah said coldly.
“And we will count Darcy,” Chase said quietly. “I’m sorry, Susannah. And there are still four missing. Judge Borenson, Monica Cassidy’s father, and Bobby’s two sons.”
Everyone was silent, then Luke sighed. “I hoped Bobby wouldn’t harm her own children, but seeing what she did to that kid today… She’s capable of anything.”
“So what do we know about her?” Mary McCrady asked. “My psych profile is simply a ruthless, intelligent, soulless monster. I’d like to be able to help you more than that.”
“The man driving the pickup was Roger Tanner, sixty-eight,” Luke said. “He had four outstanding warrants from the eighties-assault, larceny, and two counts of murder.”
“How does he link to Barbara Jean Davis?” Mary asked.
“The two counts of murder were Bobby’s parents,” Susannah said, “the Reverend Styveson and his wife, Terri. They were bludgeoned to death in the parsonage of the small Arkansas church where Mr. Styveson was the preacher.”
“Tanner was the church handyman,” Luke said. They’d pieced much of this together on the drive back. He’d been too tense to rest, and ended up spending most of the drive on the phone with the Arkansas PD while Susannah searched the public records. “His fingerprints were found in the house, not unusual because he was the handyman. But that’s when they discovered his record.”
“Everybody assumed he’d done it,” Susannah said, “because there were no other suspects and no sign of forced entry-and he had a key to the parsonage. Bobby suffered no injuries, even though she told police he had overpowered her.”
Luke shrugged. “The local PD says her story just didn’t match up with the evidence, but there was no evidence to implicate her. Now, knowing she’s been in league with Tanner, it makes sense that they were in it together even then. After her parents’ funeral, Tanner escaped and was never seen again. Bobby was sent to South Carolina, to live with her mother’s sister.”
“How did they end up in Dutton?” Nancy asked.
“Who knows? Maybe Bobby knew who her real father was and forced the aunt to bring her back. Maybe the aunt blamed Susannah’s mother for having the Styvesons banished and brought the girl back as a taunt. We may never know.”
“I never heard anything about Bobby’s parents being murdered or her being the daughter of the old pastor,” Susannah said. “That kind of thing gets around in a small town, but there was never a word. Even Angie Delacroix didn’t know Bobby was the Styvesons’ daughter. In school she was Barbara Jean Brown, so she took her aunt Ida Mae Brown’s last name. And Brown was the aunt’s married name, so nobody linked her with Styveson’s wife. For whatever reason, her aunt kept Bobby’s secrets well.”