Into the Night(75)

Macey thought of the skull. “She was walking away from you, and you hit her in the back of the head.”

He licked his lips. “I think she was dead...even before she fell to the floor. I grabbed her, I told her I was sorry, over and over, but it was too late. Her blood was everywhere. I—Jesus, she was gone.” His breath panted out. “An accident. See? That’s...what it was.”

No, that wasn’t an accident. At best, he was describing manslaughter. A crime of passion. Gone so wrong. But he hadn’t stopped with killing her. “You took her skull.” Macey couldn’t get past that. Neither would a jury. “You kept it.”

His lashes lowered. “I couldn’t...let her go. The hate nail exhibit had just opened and I—I switched the skulls. I just wanted her close.”

No, she didn’t believe that. “You still wanted to punish her. That’s what the nails were for. Even in death, the hate you felt for her betrayal wasn’t easing. You kept the skull and you kept the nails in it because you enjoyed hurting her. Even. In. Death,” Macey said again.

The uniformed cop’s hand slid toward his weapon.

The machines beeped.

Peter cast her a quick glance from beneath his lashes. “I think I need my lawyer.”

She’d wondered just how long it would be before he lawyered up. “Four bodies. Four other crimes are being linked back to you.”

“Didn’t kill them,” he mumbled back. “Only Susannah, only—”

“Where is her body?” Bowen cut in.

Peter’s lips parted.

“You kept her head. But what about her body? Where did you put her body?”

Peter’s gaze shifted to Bowen. “We had this place in the mountains that we liked. Not too far from Rainbow Falls.”

Every muscle in Macey’s body locked down at the mention of Rainbow Falls. Not a coincidence, can’t be.

“There’s an old cabin up there,” Peter continued. “You just...you divert off the Rainbow Falls Trail and head over to Bullhead Trail.”

Macey’s gaze met Bowen’s. Oh, hell.

“Most folks don’t ever see that cabin because you have to go off the path in order to find it, but Susannah showed it to me. Said when she was younger, she and her brother would go up there all the time. It was their place... Their parents fought a lot, so they went up there to get away.”

Macey knew he was talking about the cabin that Curtis Zale had used with his victims. She knew it.

“I buried her there, because she liked the place so much.”

“Tell us exactly where,” Bowen snarled.

“There’s a...a yellow birch, about twenty feet from the front of the cabin. I—I put her under its branches. She always said that tree was so beautiful. That it was her favorite.”

This is all related. Everything. Susannah. The nails. The cabin. Curtis.

“Would you...um... Can you tell her brother I’m sorry?”

Macey turned to stare at Peter once more. “No one knows where Susannah’s brother is. We heard that he’d been gone from her life since he was seventeen.”

His eyes widened. “But he was in town, about two months ago. Wesley was looking for her. God, I had to stand right there, with her skull right behind him, and tell the guy that I hadn’t seen her. One of the hardest fucking things I’ve ever done.”

Peter Carter was a serious piece of work. “Even harder than killing his sister?” Macey snapped, pushed to her limit.

A muscle jerked in Peter’s jaw. “You know... Wesley was always so smart.”

No, I don’t know. Because I haven’t found Wesley.

“Susannah bragged about him all the time. Said even when he was a kid, Wesley could do amazing things. That’s why she hated so much that he left when he was seventeen. She’d wanted him to be something, wanted him to use his skills to be—” Peter’s eyes widened. “It was him!”

“What?”

“Wesley! It was him! He’s the one who put all that shit on the computers at the museum! Susannah told me he was a fucking computer genius, but I didn’t even think about him. Shit! I just saw everything and I panicked and—” He tried to lunge up in the bed, but the restraints wouldn’t let him go far.

The uniformed cop tensed. “Easy.”

But Peter wasn’t being easy. He was thrashing against the restraints. “Son of a bitch! He knew! All along, he knew! And he’s fucking trying to frame me!” He twisted his body and Macey saw the blood begin to seep through his paper-thin hospital gown.

“You’re reopening your wounds,” she said quietly.

“It was him!” He struggled harder. A doctor and nurse rushed into the room. “When I find that prick, I’m gonna kill him!”

The nurse injected something into Peter’s IV line.

“Just like you killed his sister?” Bowen said.

Peter stilled. “I want my lawyer.”

“Yeah.” Bowen turned away. “Good luck with that shit. Probably should have asked for him before you made a full confession regarding Susannah’s death.” He headed for the door.

Macey moved to follow him.

“Agent Night!” Peter bellowed her name.

She looked back at him.