Fear For Me: A Novel of the Bayou Butcher(46)

Her body was tense and hard against his. “She was supposed to pick me up from school and take me to piano lessons. She never came. Never came…”

His jaw clenched.

“He said he watched her get cut up. That he buried her—and that he would do the same to me…”

The door squeaked open behind them. Anthony looked back, expecting to see the doctor, but instead, he saw the FBI profiler. Cadence had sure made good time getting there. He’d talked to her less than twenty minutes ago on the phone.

Cadence hesitated in the doorway. He knew she’d see—and understand—plenty by the way he was holding Lauren. He’d worked with Cadence on two other cases. The woman was private, smart, tough. In so many ways she reminded him of Lauren.

But she wasn’t Lauren. That was why they’d never clicked—why he never clicked with anyone but Lauren.

No one could ever be just like his Lauren. He could never want anyone else as much.

“I need to ask her some questions,” Cadence murmured as she hesitated in the doorway. “But I can give you a few minutes longer.”

“She has a concussion.” His voice came out clipped. He knew the drill with witnesses, knew they were supposed to tell their stories when they were fresh. But this wasn’t just any witness. It was Lauren, and she was shaking in his arms. “She needs to rest. I’m taking her with me. You can get your answers tomorrow.”

“Anthony…” Cadence sighed out his name. “You understand that isn’t how it works.” She walked into the room, her shoes nearly silent on the tiled floor. “Lauren, surely that isn’t how you want this to work? You’re a DA, you have to want us to catch Walker as fast as we can.”

Lauren pulled away from Anthony, putting a few inches between them that he did not want. “Someone warned him.”

At those words—three simple words—the whole case changed.

“Someone warned Walker that the marshal was on his trail.” The trembling of her body increased. “Someone was watching…”

Anthony glanced over and caught the slight flare of Cadence’s golden eyes. “How do you know that?” Cadence asked.

Anthony looked back at Lauren. A furrow appeared between her brows. “I heard a phone ring. The guy called Walker. Told him.”

“Are you certain?” Cadence pressed as she edged closer.

“I know the sound of a phone.” Now Lauren’s voice was clipped. Annoyed. “He left me so he could answer it. That was when I managed to break the chair and get to my feet.”

Anthony remembered the sight of the broken chair. The duct tape.

The knives.

“I heard him. He told the person on the phone…” She drew in a deep breath. “That he had me.”

He’d suspected Walker had been using a partner to get out of jail, but this was different than having a getaway buddy.

Anthony kept silent now, waiting for Lauren to finish.

“He yelled into the phone, ‘We were going to kill her.’ We.” The word vibrated with fear and fury. “Not just him…we.”

Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.

A fast glance at Cadence showed the profiler was watching Lauren with hawk-like intensity.

“I ran for the door,” Lauren said. Her hand lifted. Touched the back of her head. “He stopped me. Said we’d finish soon when…‘he’ could join us.” Her hand dropped. “Then he slammed my head into the door and I passed out, I guess. I’m not really sure what happened. I woke up and saw the swirl of ambulance lights.”

What happened was that Walker had raced out of there. Anthony hadn’t given chase, but Wesley had joined the K-9 team and started hunting as quickly as he could. When Anthony had checked in just a few minutes before, Wesley had told him that the dogs had followed Walker’s trail to the water’s edge.

The bastard sure liked to use boats for escape. The cops were out on their own boats then, too. Cops and deputies—any damn one his marshals had been able to find—they were hunting on the water and on land. Looking for signs of Walker and where he’d taken his boat.

“Walker’s been working with a partner all along.” Lauren’s words were bitter. “Since he killed my sister. He told me that he watched her being killed. They killed her! Walker and whoever that sick freak is who helped him!”

Cadence was near the bed. “You’re sure Walker said he watched?”

Anthony glared at Cadence. Had she missed the whole sister part? This interview was ripping Lauren apart.

“Yes,” Lauren hissed. “He watched.” Her lips twisted into a chilling smile. “He said Jenny started the circle, and I would finish it.”

Cadence inhaled on a sharp breath.

“He could be bullshitting,” Anthony said. He wouldn’t put it past Walker to screw with Lauren’s head. Another way to punish her. “Maybe he heard about your sister—”

“You didn’t even know about her,” Lauren said as her shoulders slumped. “I don’t talk about Jenny very much. Not anymore. It hurts too much.”

It also made him understand her more. Made him understand why she was so determined to get justice for the victims out there.

She’d never gotten justice for her own sister.

The hospital room door opened again. Paul entered and his gaze flew to Lauren, heated. Anthony hated the emotion he saw there.