A Necessary Evil(30)

Next, Kurt searched the DMV records for any vehicles registered in Collin’s name. To his surprise, none had been listed in over two years. The last one, a Mercury Cougar, had been registered to an apartment on Chinoe Road. Nothing at all since then. No census records, no tax records. There was literally nothing that showed a current address for Collin Ray McAllister. He had no criminal record, had never been so much as questioned by police, and had never called 911. Kurt checked the death records for the past three years, but nothing was registered there, either.

“Finding anything over there, partner?” Lonnie’s voice broke Kurt’s concentration.

“Nothing at all,” Kurt answered. “It’s like he’s a damn ghost. Just disappeared off the map about two years ago.”

“We’ll find him,” Lonnie said with no trace of sarcasm at all, which was a nice change of pace. “Just gotta keep digging.”

Kurt turned back to the computer. He drummed his fingers on his desk as he wracked his brain for ways to track down a psychopath with a thirst for revenge who had gone underground. How could someone kidnap any young girl, let alone seven, hold them for God only knew how long, and dispose of their bodies so there was not even a trace of their existence left? He had to have someplace quiet and secluded where he could play out his fantasies without nosy neighbors or police growing suspicious of his strange behavior. He’d had Mollie at the old grocery store on Delong, at least temporarily, and Kurt knew beyond the rundown store was not much more than miles and miles of undeveloped land and horse farms.

Maybe that was it. Maybe he had a horse farm or some sort of property in his name out in the county. That would explain his ability to hide his actions from anyone who might report suspicious behavior. Kurt opened the website for the Property Valuation Administrator, and when he found the “property search” field, he entered Collin’s last name. A few tense seconds later, a new screen popped up with a picture of a white farmhouse with a green tin roof. A large porch wrapped around the front, and black shutters adorned the windows. According to the details section, the house was listed under The Estate of Andrew McAllister—his grandfather, perhaps—upon his death in 2013. Kurt realized this was around the time Collin had dropped off the face of the earth. The house sat on forty-four acres of Fayette County real estate, and there was a picture of a red barn with a silo situated right behind the house.

This had to be it—a barn. The perfect place for Collin to hide young women and the evil things he did to them. Kurt knew the area where this farm was located. The houses were few and far between. And from the pictures, he could tell the farmhouse was set way back off the main road, and dozens of tall pine, sycamore, and maple trees provided additional cover from anyone who might be looking at the property from the roadway. Kurt had a feeling deep in his churning gut that he was looking at Collin McAllister’s house of horrors.

He scooted his chair back and nearly lunged from his desk. “Let’s go,” he said to Lonnie, who was scrolling through his Facebook feed on his cell phone.

Lonnie looked up at Kurt and arched his brow. “Where are we going?”

“I think I found him. We need to go. Now.”

Lonnie shoved his phone into his pocket, grabbed his jacket, and was at Kurt’s side in a split second. “Let’s go save Mollie.”





Chapter 16




Collin



He was pacing the floor of The Vault and wringing his hands. It had been over two hours since he’d left his message for Franklin at the Trifecta Lounge. As soon as he’d returned from his mission, he’d turned on the little television he’d brought in from the main house and had been watching, waiting for an announcement regarding Franklin’s confession to Julian McAllister’s murder. He wasn’t sure if it would come in the form of a press release or if he’d see a news story covering Franklin’s perp walk into the jail. He’d felt exultant at the mere thought of seeing the old man, flanked by Lexington police officers, with his hands cuffed behind his back and his head hung low in shame.

Now, however, he was growing impatient. His legs were restless, and he couldn’t sit still on the edge of the bed, staring at the television any longer. His tension was morphing into anger as his heart palpated rapidly and heat coursed through his body. Was Franklin defying him? Was that why there’d been no news of his confession? Was the old man really going to push him to kill his granddaughter?

Thinking of Mollie for the first time in a while, he looked over to the corner where she was still chained to the wall. She was slumped in the corner with a look of utter defeat on her beautiful face. Her once long blonde hair was now cropped short just past her ears. While Collin was no professional stylist, he thought he’d done a good job of maintaining her beauty with a pretty decent bob. Even with dirt, sweat, blood, and tears smeared across her face, she was still a lovely sight to behold. He was angry at Franklin for forcing his hand and making him extinguish her beauty forever. True, he’d planned on killing her all along, but not quite yet, and not in the way he was now forced to, in order to punish Franklin for both killing Collin’s father and ignoring his demands.

Collin walked over to the girl and knelt beside her. He lifted her chin gently with his forefinger and looked into her tearstained eyes. “I’m so sorry to tell you this, sweetheart, but your grandfather has abandoned you.”