Tess Gerritsen - Last to Die

The invasion of little boys sounded like a cattle stampede as they came clomping in, laughing and hooting in the darkness. Still crouched at the top of the stairs, Jane slowly lowered her weapon.

“Mr. Inigo?” she called out.

“Hello? Who’s up there?”

“Detective Rizzoli. Do you have your cell phone?”

“Yeah. Where’s Nancy?”

“I want you to call nine one one. And get those boys out of the house.”

ELEVEN

THE WINDOW IN THE DOWNSTAIRS STUDY WAS BROKEN, AND GLASS shards glittered like diamonds scattered across the floor.

“This appears to be the intruder’s point of entry,” said Frost. “We found the back door ajar, which is probably how he exited. The arrival of Mr. Inigo and all those noisy kids must have chased him off. As for dousing the lights, all the perp had to do was walk into the garage, open the fuse box, and flip the master switch.”

Jane crouched down to stare at the oak floor, where the intruder’s shoe had left a faint imprint of dirt. Through the broken window she heard the voices of the CSU team examining the soil outside for other footwear impressions, and in the driveway a patrol car’s radio hissed and crackled. Reassuring sounds. But as she stared at the footprint on the floor, she felt her pulse pounding again, and remembered the smell of her own fear in the darkness. If only I’d had the chance to take him down .

“How did he find the boy?” she said. “How the hell did he know Teddy was here?”

“We can’t be sure Teddy was his target. This house could have been a random pick.”

“Come on, Frost.” She looked up at her partner. “You don’t really believe that, do you?”

There was a silence. “No,” he admitted.

“Somehow he knew the boy was here.”

“That info could have leaked out of Social Services. Boston PD. Any number of sources could have accidentally revealed it. Or the perp could’ve followed you here tonight. Anyone who saw you at the crime scene knows you’re working the case.”

Jane thought about her drive to the Inigos’ house, tried to remember if there’d been anything unusual, any set of headlights that stood out in her rearview mirror. But headlights were anonymous and Boston traffic unremitting. If a killer followed me, she thought, then he knows my car. And he knows where I live .

Her cell phone rang. She pulled it from her purse, saw the Maine area code, and knew at once who was calling.

“Maura?” she answered.

“Dr. Welliver told me you got my message. It’s quite a coincidence, isn’t it? Two more children just like Teddy Clock. What do you think?”

“I think we’ve got a situation here. Someone just came after Teddy.”

“Again?”

“The intruder actually got into the house. Luckily, I happened to be here.”

“Are you all right? Is the boy?”

“Everybody’s fine, but the perp took off. Now we’ve got to find a safer place to park the kid.”

“I know a safe place. And it’s right here.”

A male CSU tech came into the room, and Jane fell silent as he and Frost talked about fingerprints on the back door and windowsill. This attack had left her shaken and suspicious of everyone, even the professionals with whom she worked. If I wasn’t followed here, she thought, then someone must have leaked Teddy’s location. Someone who might be working the crime scene at this very moment.

She went into a bathroom and closed the door to continue the conversation. “Tell me your situation there,” she said. “Is it secure?”

“It’s isolated. There’s one road in, and it’s gated. They have motion sensors along the road.”

“Your surroundings?”

“Thirty thousand acres of private woodland. Theoretically someone could hike in, but then he’d have to get into the building itself. The door’s massive, with a security keypad. All the windows are well above ground level. Plus, there’s the staff.”

“A bunch of schoolteachers? Oh yeah, that’s reassuring.”

“They have a forester protecting the property and he’s armed. The school’s self-contained and has its own farm and generator.”

“Still, we’re talking teachers. Not bodyguards.”

“Jane, they’re all members of the Mephisto Society.”

That made Jane pause. Anthony Sansone’s bizarre little group kept track of violent crimes around the world, searching the data for patterns, seeking evidence that evil was real. That humanity itself was under attack. “You never told me they operated the school.”

“I didn’t know that until I got here.”

“They’re conspiracy theorists. They see monsters under every rock.”

“Maybe this time they have a point.”

“Don’t get biblical on me. Not you, please.”

“I’m not talking about demons. There is something going on here that we can’t explain, something that connects these children. The school psychologist refuses to share the details because of patient confidentiality. But Lily Saul told me enough about Claire and Will to convince me there’s a pattern here. And Evensong may be the one place these three children are safe.”

“A school operated by a paranoid organization.”

“Which makes them the perfect guardians. They chose this remote site because they can defend it.”

There was a knock on the bathroom door. “Rizzoli?” called Frost. “The social worker’s here to take the boy.”

“Don’t let anyone take him!”

“What do I tell her?”

“Hold on, I’ll be out in a minute.” She turned her attention back to the phone. “Maura, I’m not sure I trust Sansone and his crowd.”

“He’s never failed to come through for us, you know that. And these people certainly have more resources than Boston PD could ever scrape together.”

And there’d be no information leaks, thought Jane. No better place to keep a boy hidden from the world.

“How do I get there?” she asked.

“It’s not easy to find. I’ll have to email you the directions.”

“Do it. I’ll talk to you later.” She disconnected and walked out of the bathroom.

In the living room, the social worker stood waiting with Frost. “Detective Rizzoli,” she said, “we’ve arranged another placement for—”

“I’ve made alternative arrangements for Teddy,” Jane said.

The social worker frowned. “But I thought we were going to place him.”

“Teddy may have been the target tonight. Which means there could be more attacks. You don’t want another foster family killed, do you?”

The woman lifted her hand to her mouth. “Oh God. Do you really think …”

“Exactly.” Jane looked at Frost. “Can you make sure the Inigos have a safe place to go tonight? I’m going to take Teddy.”

“Where?”

“I’ll call you later. I’m going upstairs to pack a bag for him. Then he and I are getting out of Dodge.”

“You have to give me an idea, at least.”

She glanced at the social worker, who was watching them, her jaw agape. “The fewer people who know, the safer it will be,” she said. For both of us .

JANE DROVE NORTH INTO the dawn with one eye on the rearview mirror. In the backseat, Teddy slept through the entire journey. They’d stopped at her apartment just long enough for her to throw some clothes and toiletries into an overnight bag, and then they were on the road. Gabriel had wanted her to get a good night’s sleep first, to wait until daylight to leave, but she was anxious to get Teddy out of Boston.

And she sure as hell wouldn’t let him stay in her home or anywhere near her own family. She’d seen what happened to families who sheltered Teddy. Death seemed to walk in the boy’s footsteps, scythe swinging and hacking at whoever happened to be nearby. She did not want that bloody scythe harvesting the two people she loved most.