Wicked Respite Page 13

  Ivy instinctively reached over and grabbed Amy’s arm before she could pull away. “You can’t leave. You were meant to come here, to find Max. Heck, you were meant to find me. I’m going to help you.”

  “I can’t put you in danger.”

  “Believe it or not, I find danger no matter where I go. It’s sort of a running joke in my family. I’m going to help you whether you like it or not.”

  “And how are you going to do that?”

  This was the part of the conversation Ivy knew would spook Amy. She had no choice but to tell the truth, though. “We need to call Jack. He’ll make sure Jeff doesn’t get near you.”

  Amy immediately started shaking her head. “No. Jeff will kill him, too.”

  “No, he won’t. We’re going to work as a team.” Ivy was firm. “You need us. You can’t keep running forever. That’s not a good life for your son and you know it. We need to end this here.”

  “But … .” Amy trailed off, uncertain. The picture Ivy painted was a welcome one. She wasn’t comfortable putting others in danger, though. “I’m afraid.”

  “Good. Fear is great when it comes to keeping yourself alive. You can be afraid and strong, though. It’s time to be strong. We’re not going to let him win. I promise you that.”

  Thirteen

  Jack wasn’t familiar with the lake property so it took him a full hour to reach the house. He found Ivy and Amy sitting at the small kitchen table drinking tea when he entered.

  “I thought you were just hanging around with your brother and not going on an adventure today,” he blurted out when he caught sight of his fiancée.

  Ivy made a dismissive motion with her hand. “That was the plan, but Max was upset. He thought Amy wanted to break up with him. I decided to track her down to give her a piece of my mind and then … well … I saw things.”

  “I still don’t understand how that works,” Amy admitted. “How do you see things?”

  “It’s a long story.” Ivy flicked her eyes to Jack. “It’s your buddy Jeff. He’s Amy’s husband … and he’s evil.”

  Jack worked his jaw. He had so many questions to ask he didn’t know where to start. “Tell me from the beginning,” he prodded finally, taking the seat to Ivy’s right and fixing his full attention on Amy. “I want to help. I need the whole story if I’m going to do that, though.”

  Amy wrapped her hands around the mug and nodded, resigned. “I thought I would be able to run forever. I honestly convinced myself of that. I guess that’s not the case.”

  “Running isn’t healthy,” Ivy reminded her. “You have a son. Don’t you want him to have a normal life? Don’t you want him to go to school and make friends? You can do that here. All we have to do is find Jeff and then you’ll be free.”

  Amy didn’t look convinced. “You don’t know him. You don’t know what he’s capable of.”

  “That’s why you have to tell me.” Jack was calm as he rested his hands on the table. “Start at the beginning.”

  “I was in high school when we met,” Amy started, her finger tracing a line over the spoon resting next to her mug. “He was a recent transfer. He was sort of a bad boy. I grew up in Idaho. I’m sure bad boys were different in other areas, but he had this really cool leather coat and people used to talk about him in whispers, as if he did something really bad where he came from.

  “I just knew him as the guy who sat next to me in algebra. He seemed to be struggling and I thought he was handsome so I offered to help. He caught on relatively quickly and we had a good time talking. I thought people must’ve been wrong about him.

  “When he asked me out, I couldn’t believe it was really happening,” she continued. “I wasn’t popular like the other girls throwing themselves at him. I wasn’t pretty. I was just kind of normal … and yet he wanted to go out with me anyway. I thought I’d won some big prize. If I knew then what I do now I would’ve gladly let him flunk.”

  She took a moment to gather her strength and then carried on. “The first time he hit me was the night of the prom. I’d seen glimpses of his temper before – he would yell a lot if he thought I was flirting with other guys, which I never was – but I thought he just had a bad temper and he would outgrow it. I was naïve.

  “Anyway, he was angry at my dress because he thought it showed off too much skin,” she explained. “He held it in check in front of my parents, acted perfectly okay, and then punched me in the driveway before we left, when he was sure my parents weren’t watching. I couldn’t believe what was happening. I thought it had to be a mistake, that I was dreaming it or something.”

  “That would be a nightmare more than a dream,” Jack pointed out.

  She nodded. “Yeah. He expected me to go into the prom with him and pretend like nothing was wrong. It was horrible … and humiliating because I’d been crying and everyone could see that … and pretty much the worst night of my life until then. Things got worse, though.

  “The next day he offered me a half-hearted apology, said he was sorry, and promised it would never happen again. I was an idiot who believed I was in love so I said it was fine. That’s on me. My parents didn’t raise me to be the sort of person who puts up with that. My father never would’ve treated my mother that way, although he had something of a temper, too. That’s why I thought raised voices were the norm.

  “We graduated and I got a job right out of high school. I wanted to go to college like all my friends, but we didn’t have a lot of money. I had to save up for it myself. That was the plan, although it never happened.

  “Jeff and I were having sex by then and we were always careful … until there were a series of accidents where we weren’t so careful,” she continued. “The first accident made me nervous but when my period came regularly the next month, I thought it was fine. I went on the pill, or at least I thought I did, and we continued.

  “When I turned up pregnant he was ecstatic. I was horrified. I thought my life was over and my plans for college would never happen. I love my son. I don’t want you to think otherwise. I just wasn’t ready for a baby.”

  “That’s perfectly understandable,” Ivy offered. “It’s a big deal. That’s why Jack and I have been having so many conversations about it.”

  “Yeah.” She rubbed her forehead. “Later – I mean years later – he admitted to switching out my pills. It was far too late to do anything about it, though. He never touched me while I was pregnant. He did, however, insist on getting married. Idaho isn’t like other states. There’s still a stigma if you’re an unwed mother. I tried to tell my parents that I wanted to raise the baby alone, but they were having none of it. They didn’t know about the way he treated me so they couldn’t understand my reticence to get married.”

  “You got married even though you didn’t want to,” Ivy noted. “You knew it was a mistake, but you felt trapped.”

  “That’s it exactly.” Amy bobbed her head. “I couldn’t take care of a baby on my own. I convinced myself of that. I stayed. He didn’t hurt me while I was pregnant, like I said. He waited until I was two weeks out from the birth to take out all his frustrations from the past nine months on me. I could barely walk when he was finished.”

  Jack felt sick to his stomach. “Why did you stay? I understand being afraid, but why not wait until he left for work one day and pack up? Surely your parents would’ve stood by you.”

  “They didn’t know. I was embarrassed to tell them. I don’t think you understand the fear that was coursing through me. I was ashamed. Eventually, though, after a few more beatings, I knew I was in trouble. I told my parents I needed to stay with them a bit because things weren’t going well. They agreed. I told Jeff and he melted down. He smacked me around again and then stormed out. I think the only thing that stopped him from killing me that evening was the fact that JJ started crying and he didn’t want to take care of him.

  “I was almost crippled with pain the next day when I woke up and it only got worse from there,” she continued. “The police wer
e at my door. They didn’t even bother asking what happened to me. They told me my parents were dead, had somehow rolled their car when driving home because someone pulled out in front of them, and that was it. My plans to run were over because I had nowhere to go.”

  Jack held up a finger to still her. “Amy, someone pulled out in front of your parents and caused them to roll their vehicle?”

  “Yes. They both died in the accident. They never made it to the hospital.”

  “Did they catch the individual who caused the accident?”

  She wrinkled her nose. “I don’t know. I never really thought about it. Does it matter?”

  “Well, I’m just wondering if Jeff is responsible. You said he beat you and left. Could he have gone there? It’s awfully convenient that they died the night before you were leaving.”

  Amy opened her mouth to shoot down the possibility and then snapped it shut. She’d never given it much thought over the years – she had numerous other things to worry about – but it made sense in a sick way. “Oh, my … .”

  “It’s not your fault,” Ivy reassured her. “You couldn’t have known what he was going to do.”

  “And we don’t technically know that he did it,” Jack added. “It’s just something I would like to explore further.”

  “Oh, he did it.” Tears streamed down Amy’s cheeks. “I can’t believe I was so blind to that until now. I just … he killed them.”

  “Then he won’t get away with it.” Jack was firm as he rested his elbows on the table and snagged Amy’s gaze. “Tell me the rest of it.”

  “There’s not much to tell. He beat me whenever the mood struck. It used to be that he claimed he had a reason for doing the things he was doing. He stopped apologizing or making up excuses. The last straw was when JJ accidentally spilled a glass of milk on the floor. Jeff went into a rage and started going after him. I had to throw myself between them to protect my son. That was probably the worst beating he ever gave me. It didn’t stop me from running, though.”

  Jack nodded in understanding. “Did you immediately leave Idaho?”

  “Yup. I didn’t stop until I was into Montana. I got a cheap hotel and we stayed the night. I’d been saving up money for almost two years at this point. I hid it from him for obvious reasons. I didn’t have a lot, but I had enough to get away.

  “I thought Minnesota was plenty big,” she continued. “I needed to settle in a place where the cost of living wasn’t too high. I did a lot of research and settled on Minnesota. Like I told Ivy earlier, I was at one job in Mankato for three years before he showed up. I’m still not sure how he found me.

  “I fled the second time to Duluth. I don’t know that he found me there. I did lose my job, though, and that’s when I called Caroline. She suggested joining her here, and that’s what I did. I cut through Wisconsin and the Upper Peninsula and ended up here. That was two months ago.”

  “Have you been working at the highway bar that entire time?” Jack queried, his mind working hard as he tried to sort things into some semblance of order in his head.

  Amy nodded. “Do you think he tracked me down through employment records somehow?”

  “You had to turn over your Social Security number to get the job, so it’s possible.”

  Amy’s cheeks flooded a ruddy red color. “Um … not exactly. I used my mother’s Social Security number. I thought it was the safest thing. Her middle name was Amy, which was my great-grandmother’s name, so they didn’t even look twice when I told them I went by my middle name.”

  Jack nodded. “Okay.”

  “You’re not going to arrest me for identity fraud, are you?”

  Ivy answered before he could. “Absolutely not.”

  “Far be it from me to disagree with my fiancée,” Jack said dryly. “I have no interest in arresting you, though. We do, however, need to keep you safe. I’m betting Jeff tracked you through your mother’s number. He probably has a service monitoring for both. It’s not that expensive.”

  He rolled his neck and grabbed Ivy’s tea without asking to take a sip. When he was done, he’d organized his thoughts enough to continue. “Why didn’t you tell us you recognized Jeff at the campground?”

  “And what was I supposed to say?” Amy’s tone was tinged with bitterness. “Oh, hey, I know you just met me, but my husband is four campsites over. Oh, yeah, did I fail to mention I’m married? I’m married and having a romance with your brother. Aren’t I swell?”

  “I don’t care about that.” Jack remained calm in the face of her agitation. “I honestly don’t. You’ve been through a lot. It’s not as if you’re cheating on your husband because … well … he’s a jerk. We could’ve helped you then, though. We might’ve been able to save Becky Morris, too.”

  Amy was officially horrified. “Don’t put that on me. Please.”

  “Definitely don’t put it on her, Jack,” Ivy chided, reaching over to pat the woman’s hand. “She’s been through enough. This guy has been terrorizing her for years. Although … huh. I bet that’s why he came to our camp to ask you guys to go fishing. He probably wanted to glean information from Max. Did he ask a bunch of questions?”

  “Actually, he did,” Jack acknowledged, thoughtful. “He asked where we were from, what we did for a living, and made a big show of asking about you guys. He claimed to be separated from his wife, something that hurt him considerably because she got primary custody of their son. He seemed a lot more interested in getting information from Max than me. That makes sense, though.”

  “And he dropped the bodies as a message,” Ivy mused. “Unless … do you think he thought Stacy was really Amy?”

  “No.” Amy shook her head. “I went looking for him that night. That’s why I volunteered to get the water. I know he saw me. He couldn’t have mistaken her for me. That’s not how he operates.”

  “Then he killed her to send a message,” Jack noted. “He was there. He didn’t run away and hide in the shadows. He was right there when we all arrived.”

  “I knew when I heard about the woman found in the freeway median that he was here,” Amy acknowledged. “The news reports said she was at the same campground as us. Her husband was on television and telling anyone who would listen that someone must’ve been following him. I knew who it was.”

  Her response rankled Jack. “You should have told us.”

  “I was afraid. I thought you would take my son from me and give JJ to him. That’s what Jeff always told me would happen. My hands aren’t exactly clean here. I did interfere with custody. I did steal my mother’s identity. I’m going to do time for that, right?”

  Jack stared at her and shook his head. “No, you’re not.” He was firm. “I wish you’d had the faith to tell us but there’s no judge in the world who would punish you for trying to protect your son. I’m not going to do that either.”

  “Really?” Amy looked so relieved it caused Ivy’s heart to roll. “Thank you so much.”

  “For now, I want you to use my phone and contact Caroline. Tell her to stay in whatever hotel you directed her to meet you at. It’s better if your son isn’t here right now. Hopefully it won’t take us more than twenty-four hours to track down Jeff.”

  “And what happens when you catch him?” Amy asked, accepting the phone. “Will I have to go back to Idaho and testify against him? I swore I would never go back there.”

  “He’s got bigger problems. He killed two Michigan women. He’ll stand trial for murder here first. If he ever does get back to Idaho, you would be required to testify, but I doubt that will be a concern given the fact that he’s facing two life sentences here.”

  “Good point.” Amy clutched the phone to her chest. “Do you really think we’ll be able to take him down?”

  “I really do.” Jack mustered a wan smile. “Make your call. Then I need to get Brian on this and see what we can dig up. I’m betting Jeff isn’t far from town. He wouldn’t want to risk being too far away from you.”

  “Thank you.” Amy
’s voice cracked. “I don’t know how to thank you for this.”

  “It’s my job … and you’re welcome.” Jack winked at her as stood. “Come on, honey, let’s give her a moment of privacy. I want to have a talk with you about running wild around the countryside when there’s a murderer on the loose.”

  Ivy’s lips curved down. “Hey, I’m a hero today.”

  “Oh, yeah? Let’s argue and see if you still feel that way in twenty minutes.”

  IT TURNED OUT JACK WAS lying about wanting to pick a fight. He simply wanted to talk to his fiancée without an audience present.

  “This is serious,” he announced, running his hand over the back of her hair as she frowned. “This guy is a sociopathic nutcase. You have to be very careful until we have him in custody.”

  “I’ve got it. I promise to be careful.”

  “I need you to be really careful.” He pulled her in for a tight hug. “I don’t understand how someone could hurt another individual like that. It’s just … sickening.”

  “You’re a cop,” Ivy reminded him. “This is hardly the first time you’ve seen a human being turn into a monster.”

  “No. It’s still disgusting.” He pressed a small kiss to the corner of her mouth. “Once Amy is off the phone, I want you to stick close to her, keep her distracted. You have the barbecue tonight, right? That’s good. Everyone will be at the house together. Make sure you have Max meet you there.”

  Ivy immediately balked. “I can’t do that.”

  Jack cocked a questioning eyebrow. “You can’t do that?”

  She shook her head, firm. “Amy needs time to tell Max what’s going on, to confide in him. I’m not sure now is the time. Max will flip out and turn into Rambo. You know how he tends to go over the edge.”