Into the Night(76)

“That little prick...you find him! He... Shit, the last time I saw him, he’d dyed his blond hair black. He’d put on about twenty pounds, wasn’t so scrawny anymore, not like in those old pictures of Susannah’s. The guy even told me that he was in school, at college. Don’t remember which fucking one.”

No, because he’d been too busy trying to cover up the murder of the man’s sister. Once more, Macey turned away—

“Agent Night. Why didn’t you kill me?”

Her shoulders stiffened. Bowen had turned to stare at her. He was holding the door and his eyes were on her. “Because I’m an FBI agent,” Macey said without looking back at Peter Carter. “And death would have been too easy for you.”

He’d murdered a woman. He deserved a lifetime of punishment. She’d make sure he got it.

*

THEY DROVE HELL-FAST toward the helipad. The SUV slid into the twisting, snaking curves of the mountain roads. Macey was in the passenger seat, her hand gripping the phone at her ear. “Right, yes, Samantha, the guy said Susannah’s remains are at the Curtis Zale crime scene. No, no, I have no idea why Dr. Lang didn’t find them. I thought she was using her equipment on the entire area there. I tried to reach her on her phone, but didn’t connect.” There was a brief pause. “She’s supposed to be out at the crime scene today. That’s where we’re headed now. We’re going to find Susannah. Absolutely. I’ll call you again when I have more news.”

Bowen waited a beat. “Any updates on the brother’s location?”

“No, not yet. Samantha did confirm that a Wesley Kaiser had enrolled at the University of Tennessee, but that was a year ago. The school is going to fax over his student ID picture. But, apparently, he never showed up for his fall classes.”

“Because the poor bastard realized his sister was dead.” And he went looking for some vengeance?

“Samantha said he had a history of drug and alcohol abuse. I’m sure the fact that his sister vanished wouldn’t have sat well with him.”

“What about the fact that Dr. Lang didn’t find the body that should be at the scene?” Bowen demanded as his hands tightened around the steering wheel. Because that shit isn’t sitting well with me. He braked the vehicle and they jumped out.

“I don’t know,” Macey said. “I’m not sure how she missed that.”

We’re about to find out.

It would take far too long to hike to the cabin, and he’d secured transportation on the chopper. He and Macey slid inside and buckled up, and a few moments later, the pilot was lifting them into the air. They rose fast, and the ground seemed to shrink beneath them. The pilot had been ferrying law enforcement personnel back and forth to that particular crime scene, so he knew exactly where they were headed.

Bowen’s gaze slipped from the scene below him and rose to look at Macey’s profile. She was staring out the window, seeming to be a million miles away, even though if he just reached out his hand, he could touch her. Her words to Peter Carter kept ringing in his ears.

Death would have been too easy for you.

Macey was right. Sometimes, death was too easy.

Far too fucking easy.

The chopper skirted through the mountains. The trees were a bright sheen of colors. Those trees just stretched and stretched as far as the eye could see. A thousand places to hide. A million.

It was—

Macey’s hand curled around his.

Surprised, his hold jerked in her grasp. She stared straight at him now. “You.” She spoke into her microphone and he heard her perfectly in his headphones. “When this is done, know that I choose you.”

His heart lurched in his chest. He wanted to pull her into his arms. To hold her fucking tight, but he couldn’t move.

Not then.

Did Macey understand how much her words meant to him? He needed her to know. “You’ve always been the one I chose.” Always.

Her lips lifted in a faint smile.

The blades of the chopper carried them away.

*

AS SOON AS the chopper touched down, Bowen and Macey leaped out. The wind beat at Bowen’s back as he took Macey’s arm and made sure she was blocked by his body. He hurried forward and saw the small group of law enforcement and crime scene analyst workers still there. Most wore their white uniforms, with gloves on their hands, moving carefully to make sure they didn’t contaminate the scene.

The chopper began to rise again, leaving as fast as it had arrived. Bowen and Macey hurried to the back of the cabin.

“Be careful!” Dr. Lang was saying. “Absolutely careful! Those remains are fragile. We have to make sure everyone here understands that you can’t remove the bones too quickly.” She was leaning over a yawning grave as she talked to the man at her side. The guy was stooped on the ground, and a baseball cap covered his head.

“Dr. Lang,” Bowen called.

She glanced back.

“We need to talk.”

Her eyes had widened. “I didn’t realize you two would be at the scene today.” Her gaze skirted to Macey, then back to Bowen. “But, right, of course. Let’s talk.” She patted the shoulders of the man in the cap. “Carlisle, I’d like to introduce you to the FBI agents I mentioned before.”

The man in the cap glanced back. The fellow was younger than Bowen had first suspected. A dark beard covered his face.