“If you despised what he did so much, why did you do the same thing?” Kerri asked. She zeroed her aim in on his forehead.

“I didn’t.” The hand holding his weapon shook the tiniest bit. “Janelle and I were in love. We were going to get married as soon as I could file for divorce. But my father intervened on Suzanne’s behalf, and Janelle disappeared. They were going to kill Jen too. They’ve always taken whatever I wanted away from me.”

Jen cried out, tried to speak around his hand. The arm wrapped around her tightened; his hand clutched harder at her face and mouth.

“But she betrayed me too.” He glared down at Jen. “Showing up here in the middle of the night, trying to console me. She was recording the whole thing on her cell phone.”

Jen’s body rocked with sobs.

Over his shoulder, Falco came into view. He was almost on Thompson now.

Keep him talking.

“I know what you did to Amelia.” Fury so hot it scorched her from the inside out roared through her. “I’m going to see to it that you spend the rest of your life regretting that, you son of a bitch.”

“Believe me, Detective, I do regret my part in that, but it had to be done.”

Something changed in Jen’s eyes. She suddenly fell slack against him. Thompson glanced down at her.

Kerri moved.

His attention whipped back to her, and he steadied his aim.

A mournful, gut-wrenching scream filled the room. Jen jerked free of his hold and shoved at his right arm, forcing it upward.

The weapon discharged into the air above Kerri’s head. She rushed him before he could attempt to get off another shot.

Falco grabbed him from behind, twisted his arm, and wrenched the weapon from his hand.

Kerri took the weapon, and Falco secured his hands behind his back, all the while reciting the bastard his rights. He ordered him onto his knees. Thompson complied.

Sobbing, Jen collapsed to the floor. Kerri sat down with her and pulled her into her arms. They cried together. They cried for Amelia and all the others who had given their lives for no other reason than to satisfy the wants of greedy, selfish bastards like the Thompsons.

Somewhere beyond the agony consuming her, Kerri heard Falco calling for the crime scene investigators and backup for preserving the scene.

Her cell vibrated. She swiped at her eyes and nose and dug the damned thing from her pocket. It could be Tori. She didn’t bother checking the screen. “Devlin.”

“Detective Devlin, this is dispatch. Two officers just reported picking up a pregnant woman wandering along Shades Crest Road. She identified herself as Sela Abbott.”

63

1:30 p.m.

UAB Hospital

Sixth Avenue

After suffering through a scan to ensure there was no serious damage to her head, Kerri dropped by the vending machine and grabbed a coffee. She didn’t trust herself to eat anything yet, but she needed some sort of fortification.

Since they couldn’t interview Sela Abbott until after the doctors were finished examining her and Bellemont had spoken with her, Falco had left to take care of something. He wouldn’t say what, only that he would be right back.

Kerri hadn’t possessed the mental fortitude to question him. She’d checked her voice mail and found a message from the lab confirming that the meat Robby had saved all those years was human. The tissue would be compared with the bones found beneath the pool at Whisper Lake Circle to determine if they belonged to the same person. Kerri didn’t need any sort of analysis to tell her this. The remains belonged to Janelle Stevens, Sela’s sister.

A few minutes ago the doctors had finished with Sela Abbott and pronounced her in reasonably good condition. She was slightly dehydrated and had a number of minor injuries, but otherwise she and the baby were stable.

Now Bellemont was in the room with her. When he gave the word, Kerri would be able to question her. She was all too ready. But she would really like her partner to be here for this. She glanced back down the corridor. Where the hell was he?

She thought of Jen and was grateful all over again that she hadn’t gotten herself killed showing up at Thompson’s house early this morning. Falco had already been called to the scene at Whisper Lake Circle. Since Jen had parked on the street behind Thompson’s house, Kerri and Falco hadn’t spotted her car when they’d arrived. An officer had taken her to Diana’s house. Kerri wasn’t sure how her sister would take what Jen had to tell her about being at the house the night it burned, but that issue would have to be worked out eventually. The pain might just be too raw now.

Kerri leaned against the wall. Too damned tired to hold up her weight on her own anymore. She glanced at the room down the hall where the two unis stood on either side of the door. Around-the-clock protection had been ordered for Sela Abbott.

How long did Bellemont expect to put off the questioning? Kerri finished off her cold coffee. What the hell was taking Falco so long?

As if her thought had summoned him, Falco rounded the corner and strode toward her. She had never been so glad to see anyone in her life.

“Are the doctors still with her?” he asked with a glance at the door of Abbott’s room.

“They finished, said she was in good condition. Bellemont is with her now.”

Falco glanced around. “We need to talk.”

They moved down the hall a few yards. “What’s up?” Kerri wasn’t sure she could handle any more. Her niece was dead, along with a whole slew of other people.

And she had killed a man.

She closed her eyes. Shit.

“Falco.” She looked up at him. “I’m not sure I should even go in there for the questioning. At this point, my involvement could jeopardize the case. After what I did—”

“Stop.”

She frowned, waited for him to continue.

“There was no body.”

“What?” She stared at him, too weary and confused to follow, obviously.

“I went to the cabin, and the living room area was clean. I’m talking spotless. No body. No blood. Nada. I walked through the kitchen and out the back door and around the yard. Nothing.”

“That’s impossible. I killed him. He was dead. There was a lot of blood. Do you hear me? The bastard was dead dead.”

“Doesn’t matter if there’s no body.”

Oh hell. “Did you clean it up?” Irrational anger bolted through her. “Did you?” She did not want to drag Falco down with her. Damn it. It was bad enough Tori would suffer for her sins.

“Devlin, I’m telling you it was clean when I got there.”

She wasn’t sure she believed him. “I still need to make my statement. If what you’re saying is true, I don’t know what the hell happened, but I know a dead man when I see one. I killed him.” If she was smart, she would back off, let Falco finish this. But she couldn’t, she suddenly understood. Whatever mistakes she had made, she had to see this all the way through. For Amelia.

“Just wait,” Falco said. “We need to see how this all shakes down first.”

Kerri couldn’t comprehend how that would matter. Eventually someone was going to report York as missing. He had a daughter. Partners at the firm.

She closed her eyes again. This case had exploded in the past thirty-six hours.

Her family was devastated. She was devastated.

At least eight people related to this case, besides York, were dead.

Suzanne Thompson and Neal Ramsey in addition to Daniel and Tempest Abbott along with Joey Keaton.

And Amelia. Sweet Amelia. The crack in Kerri’s heart widened.

They’d found out since reaching the hospital that there was at least one more casualty.

When Theo Thompson had been arrested, he had insisted his father be called since he couldn’t reach his attorney, Lewis York. T. R. Thompson hadn’t answered his phone, either, so a uniform had gone to his house to round him up, only to find the front door ajar and the man dead at the bottom of his staircase.

The ME believed Neal Ramsey had been crushed between two vehicles. There was rear-end damage to the Lexus belonging to Suzanne Thompson. Paint transfer indicated her vehicle and Ramsey’s had possibly been in contact. Further testing would confirm. The last text message Ramsey received had been from Suzanne requesting a meeting. For now, Kerri and Falco were thinking that someone—maybe Theo Thompson or Keith Bellemont or Sela Abbott—had decided to tie up all the loose ends of this case.

Had to be one of them. Everyone else was dead.

The problem was, Bellemont had an airtight alibi, Sela was thirty-one weeks pregnant, and Thompson wasn’t talking yet.

“I think we can safely say,” Falco murmured, “that anyone who had anything to do with what happened to Amelia, Sela’s mom and sister got what was coming to them. Except maybe for Theo.”

“He’ll get his,” Kerri said. She would make sure the guy did not walk.

The door to Abbott’s room opened, and Bellemont stuck his head out. “You may come in now,” he announced, “but we are not to overtax her. Doctor’s orders.”