Lenora Worth - Deadly Holiday Reunion

Ella had refused to believe those rumors. Just high school kids trying to scare each other. But the Dead Drop Killer preferred young, dark-haired girls. Girls like Macey Cavanaugh. Girls with hair similar to Ella’s—back then. He’d taken Ella to make a point, to show her that he could break her, training or no training, because she’d gotten too close.

At least that was what she believed. Some of the old team members believed she’d been his target all along, but her mind couldn’t comprehend that after four deaths. Why would he want her so badly?

But in the end, maybe he’d succeeded in breaking her. He hadn’t killed her, but she certainly hadn’t been able to do her job anymore. And now Jake was asking her to step back into that world....

She slammed a fist against her old jeans, logic slamming against fear inside her head.

They’d never found his body and they’d never found her necklace. This was that same necklace. Of that she had no doubt. She could see the old, dried bloodstains caked against the links of gold. She hated daisies.

“No, no.” She reached out, grabbed at Jake’s plaid shirt. “No, Jake. He can’t...it can’t be him.”

“I think it is, honey,” Jake replied, the truth charging through his eyes. “I came to you because you’re the only one who can help me find him—and because I’m worried about you. I’ve got a little bit of a head start before a task force from Tyler shows up with the Sheriff’s Office.”

He pushed at the bangs falling over Ella’s forehead. “I’m sorry but I need you, Ella. I’m going to track him.”

His touch was as gentle against her skin as a butterfly’s fluttering wings. But the look in his eyes was anything but gentle. “And this time, when I do find him I’m going to kill him.”

* * *

Jake watched as Ella went around, gathering supplies and firearms. She obviously knew how to take care of herself. She’d been doing it for years now. She had a loyal guard dog to warn her of strangers. Zip had alerted her that someone was approaching when Jake arrived and she’d greeted him there in the barn with a rifle pointed at his head. Nothing new about a Texan carrying a weapon on her own land, but Ella needed the security of protecting herself more than most after what she’d been through.

“You seemed prepared to hold off an army,” he said to settle his antsy nerves. He glanced at the huge Christmas tree by the picture window, memories of other Christmases lighting his mind.

Now she turned to explain, one hand tugging through her burnished gold-streaked hair. Hair that used to be a rich brown. Had she dyed it? “I have weapons hidden inside the house and out in the barn. Even in the open-air dining room down by the lake.” She lifted her chin in defiance, just the way she’d done when they’d fought long ago. “I won’t live in a spirit of fear.”

Jake had to agree with that. God’s people didn’t live in a spirit of fear, but it paid to be prepared, too. “But you live with your grandparents,” he said. “They’ll need to know what’s going on.”

She’d have to send them away. Somewhere safe.

She nodded, went back to gathering supplies. “They’ll be home any minute now. I’ll close down the restaurant for a while.” Her sky-blue eyes went dark. “We’ll set up the command post here.”

Jake didn’t want to rush her, but each minute was precious. He had to talk to keep from screaming. “Uh, so you run a restaurant now. I saw the sign on the gate. Caddo Country?”

Ella’s gaze swept over the den and kitchen in an urgent rush. “Yes, it’s farm-to-table meals by request out underneath the big screened gazebo and outdoor kitchen Grandpa helped me build.” She checked her weapons, grabbed ammunition.

Jake let her do her thing, figuring Ella needed to feel safe and he’d see to it that she was safe. But he could tell she’d left the law enforcement life behind. She’d built more than a restaurant here. She’d rebuilt her life. Without Jake. Had she ever really needed him?

“I have to keep them away, Jake,” she said now. “You know they raised me after my parents died.” She stopped, stared off into space. “I can’t believe he’s back.”

Jake could tell she was reliving the terrible memories and the awful guilt of knowing one man had killed four young women just possibly so he could get to Ella. One faceless man who now had his daughter.

“I don’t know for sure if it’s him, but the MO is the same.”

“You need to brief me before we get going.”

He cleared his throat and wished he didn’t need to do this. “A whole lot of law enforcement people are out there looking, but I knew once I found that necklace I had to come and check on you.”

Ella whirled to stare at him. “And you also knew I’d want to help.”

“Yeah. I didn’t want you to hear this news from anybody else. I figured you’d strike out on your own to find him.”

“And Macey,” she added before she turned back to her busywork. “I’d have to find Macey.”

He couldn’t lie. “Yes. I really need you to help me figure out the clues and stay on this, Ella. We don’t have much time.”

Ella’s sky-colored eyes met his with a look of defiance, chased by a solid trepidation. “No, we don’t. But if this is him, then neither does he.”

Jake went silent while they both remembered what this man could do to a victim. He could see that horror written all over Ella’s face.

TWO

After Ella left the FBI, she came home to East Texas. At first, she only wanted to heal and get her bearings and maybe prove to herself that she still had courage to face those dense woods each day. But weeks had stretched into months and, finally, she’d resigned from her Dallas post and she’d never looked back.

Until now.

Jake followed her, checking weapons right behind her. Not used to him being around and certainly not nearly prepared for what he’d told her, she whirled around and gave him a nasty glare.

“Sorry,” he said, his gaze holding hers. “Old habits—”

“I can’t have you doing that, Jake,” she told him. “I need to think this through. He—whoever took Macey—told you he’d leave the next...drop...somewhere near Caddo Lake? That’s a lot of territory. So tell me everything about last night.”

Jake stood her Remington against the old hutch, but seemed to hesitate. What was he not telling her?

“I can’t help you if you don’t tell me everything,” she said with an air of gentle frustration. “I can take it.”

He nodded, glanced over at the Remington. “Took her from a car at the mall in Tyler just after closing time. She’d gone shopping with a friend after work, for a party dress. Her boyfriend, Luke Hurst, lives not far from here and he’d invited her to a Christmas dance.” Jake stopped and Ella watched as he reined in his emotions with a tight-lipped determination. “She was all excited about that dance.”

He went silent, then took in a breath. “The kidnapper apparently managed to park right next to them and when Macey went to get in on the passenger’s side, he hopped out of the driver’s side of his vehicle and used his open door to block her. So he grabbed her, held a gun to her head and shoved her into the truck, then got in and took off.”

“And the friend?”

“Rachel. Her best friend. Screamed her head off as she watched the pickup driving away.”

Ella’s heart hammered at the terrifying memories grabbing at her consciousness. Sweaty, dirty hands on her mouth and body. A gun held to her head. A sense of helplessness that she sometimes felt creeping back like a spider crawling on her skin.

“Description?”

“A dark hood and dark glasses, maybe a beard. The other girl was already behind the wheel in her car and it happened so fast, she didn’t get a good look at him. Said the truck was dark, maybe black. But she couldn’t tell us the make or model.”