Unlocking Darkness (Keys to Love Series, Book Five) Read online

  “Not everything.” Allie couldn’t help but lean down and pick up the most beautiful, perfect fall leaf she’d ever seen. It was fire-red with streaks of gold through the center. She twirled it by the stem to show Mitch that she wasn’t in the same hurry he was. He’d been through a lot since returning home and it showed. It would do him good to slow down and process everything that had taken place in such a short amount of time. “Nowhere in those reports did it say that the majority of the town’s inhabitants leave their garage doors open in the middle of the day or the fact that they don’t bother to secure their front doors, leaving them unlocked for anyone to stroll right on in to get a look into their private lives.”

  “And that makes a difference how? These people all know virtually every detail about every soul in this town. Nothing is sacred.”

  “And that’s where you’re wrong. Mitch, I’ll answer your question if you walk me through the entire case,” Allie responded, having more confidence that she’d get what she needed from this conversation by the time Mitch needed to return to the station. “You have my word.”

  “Fine.” Mitch tossed the branch into the air, letting it sail into the wind far away from the fence. He didn’t miss a beat. “Noah was the first to return to town. My brother was taking out a wall in his new house to redecorate when it was discovered that a body had been enclosed in the drywall. The victim was Sophia Morton, a young girl who’d once attended a summer camp here twelve years ago and developed some friendships here locally.”

  “Noah and the rest of the town firmly believed the body belonged to Emma Irwin, though,” Allie pointed out as she stepped over a divot in the freshly cut grass. They were getting pretty far from the house, but it was better to keep walking while they talked. Mitch was bound to reveal more details that would help her adjust the profile needed to catch the individual who’d been terrorizing this town for over a decade. “Emma had gone missing from a bonfire…around this same time of year, I believe.”

  “Yes. And we found Emma’s remains with the rest of the young women who have gone missing over the years. So why seal up Sophia’s body?”

  Allie debated giving Mitch her theories now, and she decided that it would keep this conversation rolling in the right direction if she didn’t interrupt. Besides, it would give her a little more time to enjoy this beautiful weather. It was doubtful she’d have time to experience anything like this after returning to work in a couple of weeks.

  “I believe the unsub was interrupted or feared discovery. We’ll probably never know if Emma or Sophia was the first victim unless we capture the unsub. The underlying connection is that all of the young girls had publicly expressed being unhappy at home at one point or another. Even the simplest of complaints could have led this unsub into believing they were miserable in their current domestic situation. He feels he’s helping them reconnect with another soul.”

  “By killing them?”

  “By taking away the pain of their difficult lives and giving them a family of their own…by him making them immortal together as a group.”

  “Then how do you explain the death of Deputy Wallace?”

  “This unsub has never had to deal with uncertainty. He’s at home here in Blyth Lake. This is where he feels secure.” Allie turned so that she was walking backward and able to study Mitch’s expressions, needing him to understand why the killer was the way he was. “Noah discovering Sophia’s body was the first time the unsub encountered uncertainty. He most likely put Sophia out of his mind and made himself forget that he’d abandoned her there in that wall.”

  “Noah made him rash and angry,” Mitch surmised, rubbing his jaw as he considered her version of what could have taken place the night Deputy Wallace had been killed next to his patrol vehicle. “I can see that. And we’ve kept him running from that point on, reacting to our probes into his world.”

  “I believe the unsub returned to the old Yoder farm the night Deputy Wallace was killed. He was there to right a wrong.” Allie could see that Mitch was no longer impatient to get back into town. That was a good sign. She needed his disposition to be open, to be receptive to where she was going with this conversation. “The unsub’s goal was to take Sophia to the lake and have her join her sisters. Deputy Wallace had been asked to patrol the property, but the unsub must have gotten complacent and didn’t expect anyone to be lurking about. I believe he was there to take care of his so-called family member who he’d abandoned.”

  “I guess that rules out…” Mitch finally caught on. He slid his large hand around to the back of his neck. No doubt, he had a lot of tension built up trying to solve this case and keep the residents of this town safe. “You thought Byron Warner was the guilty party.”

  “No,” Allie corrected him, taking a few steps before deciding she wanted to stop their walk. She leaned an elbow on the worn wooden fencepost. “I don’t think in terms of individuals at this point, but I do take into consideration the characteristics of the profile. Byron is of the right age, he knows this town better than he knows the back of his hand, and the residents trust him with their secrets. Do I believe it’s Byron Warner? No, I don’t. He was raised by two parents who loved and supported him his entire life. That alone would scratch his name off the list. So, what happened after Deputy Wallace was murdered for being in the wrong place at the wrong time?”

  “Sheriff Percy was basically forced to resign from his position, because he wasn’t properly supervising his deputies. Percy didn’t run a very tight ship. Due to his negligence, Wallace died all alone out there.”

  “And then?”

  “Lance arrived back in town, discovering old Polaroid photographs of all the victims in the house my parents gave him. At least, the ones we know about thus far. That led Detective Kendrick, who was lead on the investigation until such time that the feds took over, to believe that Harlan Whitmore might be involved with the killings.”

  Allie recalled reading Harlan’s interview, but she didn’t believe that the older gentleman was the unsub for many different reasons.

  “Lance is the youngest of your brothers?”

  “Yes.” Mitch took her lead and leaned against a solid post in the fence line that was sturdy compared to some of the others down this section. He crossed his arms and studied her with those sparkling blue eyes that got her every damn time. “I’m the oldest. It goes in the order of me, Gwen, Jace, Noah, and then Lance. We grew up with both parents, we all had a happy childhood, and we even came back home after we’d sowed our wild oats in the service. So, tell me why Gwen would be a target?”

  “Not until we finish the rest of the timeline.” Allie continued to twirl the leaf in between her fingers, ignoring the fact that frustration was once again written across his features. She liked it more when he wasn’t so tense. “Harlan Whitmore might have been the realtor on all the properties involved this far into the story, but Miles Schaeffer and his sons also worked on all of those houses. At least, enough to get the homes in a livable condition. Wasn’t it Clayton who attempted to burn down Lance’s residence to cover up the fact that he’d been the one who rebuilt the staircase that led to the basement?”

  “Yes, but Detective Kendrick ruled out Clayton as a suspect for numerous reasons.”

  “We’re not done with the Kendalls’ involvement, though. Jace then returned to town and fell in love with Shae Irwin, Emma’s older sister.” Allie ignored the way Mitch’s features began to morph with fury, continuing with the events that occurred after the middle brother’s homecoming. She wasn’t accusing Jace of anything, and Mitch would soon realize that. “The unsub immediately focused on her.”

  “Which led the authorities to find the killer’s gravesite, which brought in the feds.”

  “Along with you,” Allie stated, now getting to the more substantial information that would eventually be the downfall of a serial killer. “The unsub then retreated back into the shadows. Everything that he’s worked so hard for over the course of his life with these girls w
as taken from him, and there was a Kendall family member at every turn. The unsub’s makeshift family had been taken away from him one by one…by your family.”

  “Fuck,” Mitch muttered, looking away from her and into the distance. He was visualizing himself what the unsub must have experienced. “Every one of my siblings inadvertently had a hand in the unraveling of this case.”

  “Yes,” Allie confirmed, taking a deep breath and giving Mitch her final conclusion. “The unsub is also grieving. He lost his family. One of the bodies you discovered in the lake was identified as Pamela Graber. When Gwen moved into Pamela’s house, I believe he was using Gwen as a substitute for the sister who’d been taken away from him. It was why he spray painted the words Welcome Home on the side of the barn.”

  “So, when Gwen didn’t move in right away, but instead stayed with Dad…”

  “The unsub couldn’t reach out to your sister, so he chose to utilize a reporter who would no doubt print whatever he wrote for her. Charlene Winston became his voice for all to hear, which then evolved into something else.”

  “Because he was able to tell his story,” Mitch finished for her with a shake of his head. “All this time I believed he was taunting us. Is it your belief that he attacked Gwen in her home to take her up to the lake? That makes no sense, especially given that we’re monitoring that area frequently.”

  “The unsub went to a lot of trouble to gain access to Gwen. He risked a great deal doing what he did. There could be a few reasons for that, but I won’t know until he shows another card. He might have even found himself a new gravesite to gather his new victims. As I stated earlier, we’re looking for a male in his early to mid-thirties whose family life consisted of one parent. He blends in easily among the residents and displays concern for those who need advice. He’s probably never been married and even has trouble maintaining a serious relationship due to his obsession with the family of his own creation.”

  Allie spent most of her time behind a desk, combing over evidence and intelligence to form an accurate profile on individuals who ranged from terrorists to serial killers. It was rare that she was able to go into the field to see the ground involved in these stories.

  “I’m here as a personal favor, which limits the capacity in which I can work.” Allie didn’t believe for one second that Agent Thorne had given her visit his blessing. “But I can use those confines to my benefit.”

  “I don’t understand.” It was easy to see that Mitch’s thoughts were racing in several different directions at once after the information she’d just dumped on him. His first instinct was probably to get back to the station, read through the letters the unsub has been sending to Charlene Winston, and go through the personal lives of every male between the ages of thirty and forty who never been married and grew up with just one parent. “Are you thinking you’ll be able to blend in while you’re here, thus allowing the residents to open up to you in a way they wouldn’t with Agent Thorne? That remains to be seen.”

  “Yes, that’s exactly what I was hoping for, to be honest.” Allie could have expanded on her answer, but Mitch would have immediately shut her down. Hell, he might have actually sent her packing. But he’d called in this favor, and she was here to see it through. Truthfully, concentrating on bringing a serial killer to justice was probably healthier than acting on the thoughts that had all but consumed her since she’d crossed the county line. “Should we head back into town? I’m thinking maybe a small shopping spree is in order while you go help Agent Thorne with the more troublesome search warrants.”

  Allie decided to keep the leaf. Maybe she’d press it in a book for a keepsake. Nature was always more beautiful in the country than the city, but maybe that was just her skewed perception of things.

  She’d only taken a single step when Mitch stopped her from walking back to the house.

  “Thank you for coming here, Allie.” Mitch appeared as if he wanted to say more. He didn’t have to tell her how important it was for him to safeguard these people he’d sworn to protect. He hadn’t materially changed in all the years she’d known him, with the exception of now owning a house meant for a huge family. He gave her a small smile. “You know I’m impatient when it comes to bureaucracy and getting right down to it.”

  “Then you should have chosen another profession, Ken.” Allie breathed a little easier when Mitch dropped his hand from her arm. A little space would go a long way in maintaining the friendship they’d built over the years. “Sheriff of your hometown? Really?”

  Mitch shrugged good-naturedly as he began to walk back toward his beautiful new home. She’d never seen anything more stunning than the two-story farmhouse set just inside the town’s limits. He could see who was coming and going by simply having a seat on his front porch watching life move along in this small town in middle America.

  “It’s what Blyth Lake needed from me, and you know I have trouble saying no.”

  Allie laughed and purposefully bumped her shoulder into his arm to prove her point. That’s what a friend would do, right?

  “You never had a problem saying no before now. Remember when Chaz wanted you to cover for him with the CO? I believe you announced at formation to the entire unit that Chaz would be out of commission for the day because he was busy shaving his balls to get rid of the crabs he’d picked up socializing with the…ladies in the ville. Though, I also believe you were a bit more eloquent than that, if I remember correctly.”

  “That’s the price that he needed be pay for his earlier indiscretions and their consequences,” Mitch said, returning Allie’s laugh with one of his own. “He shirked his duties because he’d gotten lit up the night before playing in a poker game with another unit.”

  “Exactly,” Allie pointed out, catching sight of a vehicle driving up the gravel lane. It appeared that Mitch had an unexpected visitor. “Chaz didn’t have sex that night, and he didn’t have a case of the crabs. You fabricated the whole story to teach him a lesson, in spite of the fact that he asked you to cover for him.”

  “Yeah, well, my dad wasn’t the one asking for the favor at the time,” Mitch said somewhat distractedly as he gazed at the approaching vehicle. He purposefully shifted his steps so that he was to the right of Allie. She didn’t have to be a profiler to know he’d done so with the inherent need to protect her flank. Whoever was driving the beat-up old Chevy truck wasn’t a trusted friend. “Allie, I believe that you’re about to meet your first possible suspect.”

  CHAPTER SIX

  “Jack, what brings you out my way?”

  Mitch warily regarded Jack Stewart as the man got out of his Chevy pickup truck. He was Molly’s son and currently dating Beth Ann Mason. He’d grown up locally without a father for much of his childhood, had close ties to the community, and had never maintained a relationship longer than six months.

  Did Jack’s current relationship with Beth Ann disqualify him from the suspect pool?

  “I’m heading into the city, but I thought I’d stop by and let you know that Shelby is setting up some type of antennae behind the welcome sign coming into town,” Jack said, leaning against his open door. Mitch didn’t miss the way Jack’s gaze perused Allie, just as it was also noticeable he was using his right arm to rest against the metal ridge. The killer had been grazed with a bullet to the left arm, courtesy of Mitch’s sister. “Patty wasn’t picking up at the station, and your house is on my way out of town.”

  That was code for wanting to check out the latest visitor to grace Blyth Lake. Jack had no doubt stopped in at the diner and gotten the latest gossip about Allie Delaney and their conversation from earlier. He probably was telling the truth about heading into the city, but this brief stop would garner what information he could for the rest of the crowd still milling about town looking for an update—Billy Stanton, Julie Brigham, Beth Ann Mason, and the list went on.

  What was worrisome to Mitch was the fact that Patty hadn’t picked up the telephone at the station. Jack wouldn’t have lied about that,
given the circumstances they all faced.

  “Jack? You must be Molly’s son. She spoke very highly of you this morning.” Allie stepped forward and held out her right arm in greeting. She’d been holding the autumn leaf in her left hand for some time, and she didn’t seem inclined to give it up anytime soon. “I’m Allie Delaney, a friend of Mitch’s from our time back in the Corps.”

  “You were in the Marines?” Jack’s astonishment was the typical reaction from a civilian upon learning that Allie was a former jarhead. It was the soft quality in her mannerisms that made even Mitch sometimes forget that she’d served by his side during a number of tours off and on for nearly five years. “I’d heard you were a fed, but a Marine? Now that’s just badass.”

  “I’ll take that as a compliment,” Allie replied with a light laugh that set Mitch on edge. What the hell did she think she was doing flirting with one of the local suspects? She knew damn well from the reports he’d provided her that Jack was dating Beth Ann, but the man fit her profile in every other aspect. “The Marines gave me a sense of purpose at the young, impressionable age of eighteen. You know how it is to be raised by a single parent, right? The options are somewhat limited, to say the least.”

  It took a moment for Mitch to comprehend what Allie had just done and how it correlated back to their conversation not five minutes prior to Jack’s arrival.

  Son of a bitch.

  Allie was purposefully making herself a target, filling out the victim’s profile.

  Well, she could take that idea and waltz her little ass right out of town. That wasn’t the reason he’d called in his favor, and he sure as hell wasn’t going to be the reason she became a target or lost her life after everything he’d done to make sure she had one all those years ago.

  “How’s Beth Ann doing, Jack?”

  “Beth Ann?” Jack’s gaze finally switched to Mitch, who purposefully stared him down with a warning more obvious than the bright sun shining overhead. “She’s great. It’s really working out for her over at your sister’s place.”