Paranoid(73)

Inside the complex, he found Nowak huddled with several other people, one he recognized as his own daughter. “What the hell happened here?” he demanded and Harper seemed to shrink. Xander Vale, one arm draped over Harper’s shoulders, stood rigid, his face white, his demeanor grim.

“Daddy!” Harper flung herself into his arms. “I’m sorry. I’m so, so sorry.”

“Shh. It’s okay,” he said, holding her close, knowing he was lying. Whatever had happened here, it was not okay. Definitely not okay.

“But I saw it. I saw her . . . oh, God! It’s horrible!”

“Shh. Slow down.” Wrapping his arms around her, he breathed into her hair. “It’ll be all right, just calm down, okay?” He waited for her body to quiet, the sobs to slow, the tears to stem.

“But she’s dead. She’s dead.” Harper was shaking. “They couldn’t save her.” Crying, hiccuping, and sobbing nearly hysterically, Harper clung to him. “We tried to save her. We did. Really. Xander cut her down. But it was too late.” Her voice was a squeak, and as Cade held her, he stared over Harper’s head to Vale, whose jaw was clenched. Though Vale appeared to wish he was anywhere else in the whole damned world, he stood his ground while other police personnel and rescue workers moved through the dark school yard. Their flashlight beams cut swaths of illumination over the mounds of dirt and broken equipment.

Cade’s gaze narrowed on Vale. “What happened?”

“It’s like she said—”

“From the beginning,” Cade cut in, and the kid stiffened.

“These two,” Nowak said, hooking a finger at Harper and Xander, “heard moaning, came to investigate, and ended up finding a woman hanging upside down from the ropes of the bell tower. Gruesome, just like she said. Look, I called Voss, too. She’s inside.”

“Good.”

“I figured—”

“That because my kid found the body, someone with a little more perspective should be involved.”

“Yeah.”

Cade didn’t blame him. Protocol. No blurred lines. Not like Ned Gaston handling a case involving his stepson and daughter.

Nonetheless he needed answers. Cade stared straight at Vale. “I want to hear it from you. Start with how you got here.”

“It’s my fault,” Vale said.

“Your fault?” Hell, was the kid going to confess?

“Whoa. Not about what happened, but that we’re here,” the kid clarified, obviously stricken at his choice of words. He held up a hand. “I mean it’s my fault because I talked Harper into sneaking out. We met at the corner of Height and Grange a little after midnight, I think. We texted and I picked her up and brought her up to . . . to my apartment.” He hooked a finger to the building next door where the law offices of Charles H. Ryder were housed.

Cade felt sick inside. He knew that apartment. Well.

“We just got there when we heard something, someone crying for help. So we came over here, climbed the fence, and found her in the chapel. She was hanging facedown and . . . suffering.”

“It was awful!” Harper said, her voice high.

“Yeah.” Xander Vale was nodding, his expression grim. “I cut her down and Harper called nine-one-one. They got here fast.”

“Not fast enough,” Nowak said. “She was too far gone. The EMTs worked on her, but it was too late.”

“Anyone know who she is? ID?”

Nowak nodded. “Phone and driver’s license in her back pocket. Annessa Cooper. Got a car registered to Clint Cooper, a Mercedes, parked two blocks over on Chinook.” Nowak looked at him. “Must be the husband. Isn’t he part of some financial group buying up properties around here? I read about it. Like from Seattle or Tacoma or someplace up there?”

“Yeah. I think so,” Cade said slowly, his gaze moving to the spire of the chapel, his stomach turning a little. The name meant something to him. “Annessa was local. Originally from here. Last name of Bell.” Was it possible? Another classmate of Rachel’s, an alumni of Edgewater High, murdered? Within a week of Violet Sperry’s death?

“You said she was blindfolded?”

“Tape,” Nowak clarified. “Over the eyes.”

Like Violet.

Fuck.

Cade’s arms tightened around his daughter. He thought of the two murders and the weird text Rachel had received, the vandalism on the house. Connected? Possibly. Certainly more than coincidence.

“Look, you said you got statements?” he said to Nowak. “Let’s get these two home.”

He felt his daughter tense. “You’re not going to tell Mom, are you?” Harper asked, drawing away to stare at him with a newfound worry in her eyes. “Dad, please—”

“I’m pretty sure that can’t be avoided.” He kept his gaze on Vale. “As a matter of fact, I think both of you should be there when I do. Give me ten minutes to check out the scene before we head out.” He turned to Nowak. “You’ll stay with them?”

“You’ve got it.” Nowak gave a curt nod.

“Okay.” To Harper, he said, “I’ll be right back, okay? I just have to check out a few things. Stay with Officer Nowak.”

“I’ll be here,” Vale offered, as if that were any kind of comfort.