Deadly Obsession (18 page)

“Who?” he demanded.

“Your brother.”

His looked at her sympathetically as he took one of her hands. “Are you all right?”

She yanked her hand away when she realized what he was thinking. “I’m not crazy. Your brother just called me without disguising his voice. It’s him all right and he wants me dead. And he definitely has Barbara. Or I think it’s her. I heard a voice say ‘help me.’ I couldn’t tell if the voice was male or female.” Even though he’d admitted to taking her during their last call, now they positively knew he had someone, even if it wasn’t Barbara. But Lilly didn’t have many doubts the person on the other end of the line was the missing woman. There was no reason for him to lie about it.

Braden scrubbed a hand over his face. “Honey, you’re not making any sense. My brother is dead.”

“Did they ever find a body?” She gritted her teeth as she waited for the answer even though she already knew what it would be. His pause told her everything she needed to know. “They didn’t, did they?”

“By the time the rescuers got to the plane, my parents’ bodies had been scavenged by wild animals. It was rough terrain. Either he was eaten by animals or died in the elements. They didn’t find my grandfather’s body either. Do you think he’s involved in this too?” His voice dripped with unexpected sarcasm.

She took a step back as if he’d physically slapped her.
He didn’t believe her
.

He reached out as if to touch her, but she dodged his hand, slapping it away. “Damn it, Lil. I didn’t mean that. I think you might be confused.”

“I’m not
confused
and I understand that this sounds crazy but it’s not. I’d recognize his voice anywhere. For the first time in a while, everything is perfectly clear. Call the station and have them trace the last call to my phone.”

Braden sighed, but didn’t make a move to call anyone. “Okay, let’s say my brother did call you. Why would he pretend to be dead for years? And why would he hate you enough to do this?”

“I have no idea why he’d pretend to be dead. Maybe because he’s a psycho? He blames me for getting sent to military school.” She knew he was frustrated and she didn’t blame him, but she didn’t know another way to tell him.

His frown deepened. “What did you have to do with that?”

“Until just now I didn’t even realize he’d been sent his senior year.” The first couple years she’d been in college, she’d basically banned her aunt from talking about anything or anyone related to Braden. That included his brother.

Braden shrugged. “Yeah, my mom thought it would be a good idea. He was only there a couple months though before he got arrested for something. They brought him back home so they could keep a better eye on him.”

Lilly glanced down at the sand before meeting his gaze. “There’s no other way to say this…About a week after graduation your brother tried to rape me. I stopped by your house to drop something off—I don’t even remember what it was now—and he attacked me. He’d always made me really uncomfortable but I never imagined…Anyway, your mother walked in on what was happening and freaked out. She called me a tramp and told me to get out. Remember that bruise on my cheek the last week of school? I think I told you I got it playing volleyball or something. Yeah, that was courtesy of James. I wanted to tell you but I didn’t think you’d believe me. It would have been your brother’s word against mine. Your own mother threw me out like I was garbage.” She couldn’t believe how calmly the words fell from her mouth. As she said them, it was like that proverbial weight lifted from her shoulders and she could breathe for the first time in years.

Braden stood there, silently staring at her. A muscle twitched in his jaw, but he didn’t say a damn word.

After a few moments passed, she shook her head. “Looks like I was right to trust my instinct. This is
exactly
why I left.” Without waiting for his response, she trudged up the sand toward the house.

She didn’t blame him for not believing his brother was alive but actually knowing that he didn’t believe James had tried to rape her was a lot worse than worrying he might not. Some small part of her had believed he’d listen with an open mind. Unshed tears burned her eyes as she increased her pace. She refused to cry in front of him. The man didn’t deserve her tears.

Braden stared at Lilly’s retreating figure and tried to figure out what the hell had just happened. Too many conflicting emotions surged through him as he tried to wrap his mind around everything she’d just said.

There was no way his brother was alive. To suggest it was ludicrous. Why the hell would his brother fake his own death? And how would he have made it out of the wreckage alive? And to suggest he was the monster who’d perpetrated all those vicious crimes just seemed crazy. Images of the dead, broken women penetrated his mind in an onslaught of vivid bloody snapshots. Braden shook his head disbelievingly.

He knew his brother had had anger issues and he’d always started fights on the football field and sometimes even in school, but he couldn’t imagine James assaulting Lilly. He and James had never been particularly close because his brother had always been so competitive but he’d never been violent toward him. And he’d never indicated any feelings for Lilly. Whenever she’d been around James had basically ignored her. Even thinking his brother tried to rape her made him want to vomit where he stood. He wanted to go after her, yell at her for lying, but his feet were leaden.

If there was one thing he knew for certain, Lilly wasn’t a liar. She might be confused or imagining what she’d heard on the phone, but she hadn’t been lying about why she left him. He might want to deny it, but he’d seen the painful truth in her green eyes. And the knowledge made him sick.

As he walked toward the house, he called the one person who might have answers for him.

“Hello?” His grandmother picked up on the first ring.

“Why did my mother send James to military school his senior year?” At this point, he couldn’t make small talk to save his life.

His grandmother’s silence spoke volumes.

“Well?”

“Why are you asking?” Alma’s voice was quiet, reserved.

He ignored her question. “Why?”

“Your brother had…problems. I don’t know the whole story, but I think he tried to hurt Lilly.”

He gripped his phone tightly in his hand, wanting to smash it into a thousand tiny pieces. Hell, he wanted to smash his fist through his brother’s face. “Why didn’t anyone ever tell me?”

“It wasn’t my place, Braden. I think your mother was in some sort of denial. She didn’t tell me what happened, but she alluded to it. Then, when Lilly left you so abruptly, I put two and two together.”

Braden jerked the back door open, but refrained from slamming it. He knew if he did, Lilly would think it was directed at her and that was the last thing he wanted. “Do you think he’s still alive?”

“What?”
Her shocked gasp gave him his answer.

“Never mind. I’ve got to go, but I’ll check in with you later this week. Thanks for all you did today.”

As soon as they disconnected, he called the station. Thankfully Vanessa answered on the first ring. After asking her to track the last call made to Lilly’s phone, he raced up the stairs and stopped in front of Lilly’s room. He raised his hand to knock, then stopped. What the hell could he say? His brother had tried to
rape
her. The girl he’d loved. His hands balled into fists as he realized she’d had to deal with that all by herself. She’d been young, fragile and…shit, she’d been his. He should have protected her. Should have seen it coming. Or something. How could he have not known?

Rage and a deep seated protectiveness battled inside him. There was no one to take his anger out on now. If his brother was still alive, he’d…As dark thoughts of what he’d like to do accosted him, he paused and placed an open palm on the door. Hating what had happened to her, he leaned forward and pressed his forehead to the back of his hand. Lilly didn’t need to sense his anger or helplessness right now.

After a moment of staring at her closed door, he sucked it up and opened it. He wasn’t going to knock and give her a chance to tell him to get lost.

She was curled up on her side in the middle of her bed, but she turned at the sound of the door opening. Tears streaked down her face and her eyes were red and puffy. All because of him. Seeing her this way was like a punch to the gut.

“Go away,” she muttered, before turning her back to him.

Wordlessly he shut the door and got into bed behind her. He was still wearing his shoes, but he didn’t care. All that mattered was comforting her. Something he wished he’d been able to do a decade ago. She might be confused about his brother being alive but she needed comfort right now. At least he could give her that.

Almost immediately she pulled away from him and rolled out of the bed. “Don’t you dare touch me!”

His chest ached as she took another step away from him. “I’m sorry for what he did to you.”

“You believe me?” Her voice was a whisper.

“Of course I believe you.” The sheets and comforter rustled as he stood up.

Her eyes glistened with unshed tears. “Would you have believed me back then?”

“I can’t know for sure, but I think I would have. You were my world in high school, Lilly. You could have told me you were from another planet and I’d have believed you.” It was all he could offer.

He couldn’t know with absolute certainty how he’d have reacted years ago, but he remembered how in love with her he’d been. He’d have believed anything she said. His brother had been big and strong. He might have been a year younger than them, but he’d stood over six feet tall and he’d played football with Braden. Lilly was slim and petite now, but back then she’d been the size of a swizzle stick. She couldn’t have weighed more than a hundred and five pounds in high school. If James had wanted to hurt her, she’d have been no match for him. Thinking about it, he remembered how much his brother had ignored her but he also remembered the snide comments he’d made about her when she wasn’t around. He’d even told Braden that she’d leave him when she went away to college. He’d been so sure about that. Looking back it seemed so obvious that James had disliked Lilly. Until now, he’d never realized how much.

He was taking the risk of pushing her away, but he had to get this next part out. “I believe you and I’m so sorry, but he’s not alive.”

She frowned at his words and took another step away from him. “I
know
what I heard. That voice…” She slightly shuddered. “I had nightmares about his voice and about him for a long time.”

That knowledge made Braden sick. He’d been so angry at her after she’d left him and now he found out she’d been suffering too. Probably worse than him. But that didn’t mean she was right. “Even if he’d managed to survive the crash, it was the middle of winter and they were over a hundred miles from any sort of civilization.”

Lilly simply repeated herself. “I know what I heard.”

“You said so yourself, you saw another masked face at my house that wasn’t real. Is it possible that this is a side effect of your PTSD?”

“No, it’s
not.
” She spoke through gritted teeth.

By the firm set of her jaw, he knew that no matter what he said, it wouldn’t make a difference. “They’re tracing the call right now. Maybe we’ll catch a break.”

“I feel like this nightmare will never end,” she muttered.

He reached out a hand to offer comfort, but she flinched away from him. “What do you want me to say? Do you want me to say I believe you?”

Sighing, she met his gaze. “I feel like my whole world is crumbling right now and there’s not a damn thing I can do about it. You’re the one person…just forget it. You don’t believe me, fine. I can’t make you and I don’t actually blame you. It does sound crazy, but I know what that psycho said to me. I didn’t imagine that conversation. I’m as sure of it as I’m sure I’m standing here talking to you.”

His cell buzzed in his jacket pocket. He wanted to ignore it, but couldn’t when he saw it was the station. He flipped open his phone. “Yeah?”

It was Vanessa. “We’ve got a hit on the number. The call to Lilly’s phone was from a cheap motel on the outskirts of town. I talked to the motel manager and it looks like Murphy might be staying in room one-twenty.” She quickly rattled off the address.

“I’m on my way there now. Instruct everyone not to use their sirens and park on the east side of the lot.” He’d busted a couple teenagers who’d lifted televisions out at the motel earlier in the year so he was familiar with the layout.

As soon as he disconnected, Lilly asked, “What’s going on?”

“The call to your phone came from a local motel.” He started to protest when she bent to slip on her boots, but stopped himself. She didn’t have a car and he couldn’t leave her alone. “No matter what happens, you’ve got to stay in my truck.”

“Fine. I’ve got to leave my phone here because the battery is dead so you can’t leave me here even if you want to.” At that, she strode past him without another word.

“Is there something else you want to say?” he asked as they descended the stairs.

“Someone obviously called me. You at least admit that.”

“I never denied that. I just think you’re confused about who called. Damn it Lilly, you’ve admitted you’re suffering from PTSD. The other day you saw someone in my kitchen who wasn’t there. What if this is Greg pretending to be James? This could just be another way to fuck with us. Greg’s wife is dead. He’s missing and he has a long history of violence against women. You said yourself he used to harass you in school.”

She turned to face him at the bottom of the stairs and faltered slightly. “I…Maybe you’re right but I can’t imagine how the hell someone like Greg Murphy could pretend to be James. I don’t know what else to say other than I
know
James’s voice.”

He bit back a retort and grabbed his keys and jacket from the rack. Arguing with her was pointless and he didn’t want to alienate her further. Especially now that he knew the real reason she’d left had nothing to do with him. “Can we discuss this later? There’s a lot I want to talk about, this included, but now isn’t the time.”

Her expression slightly softened as she locked the front door. “All right.”

The drive to the motel seemed to stretch on for an eternity and the silence between them didn’t help any. His mouth dried up as he pulled in next to Vanessa, Perry and Officer Jordan. This could be it. If they found Murphy, he didn’t have anywhere to run this time. This nightmare would finally be over. Then maybe he and Lilly could finally hash things out once and for all.

“Hey.” Lilly reached out and grasped his thigh as he switched off the ignition.

He turned toward her, eyebrows raised.

“Be careful,” she rasped out as she sat back against her seat.

Wordlessly, he nodded and got out of the truck. One thing he was sure about. She might be angry with him, but he could tell she still wanted him. And that meant they might have a future. That was enough motivation to make damn sure he survived.

“You all right, boss?” Vanessa frowned as he got out of his truck.

He cleared his throat and glanced toward the office of the motel. “How long have you been here?”

“We arrived about five minutes ago,” she said, instantly all business.

“Any movement?”

“Negative. The motel manager is in the office, but he discreetly put in calls to the surrounding rooms and told everyone to stay put until further notice,” Perry said.

Braden looked at Vanessa. “You and Jordan loop around and cover the back. Perry and I will go in through the front. You ready?” he said to Perry.

He nodded. “Yeah.”

The management office and outside stairs blocked their view of a cluster of rooms at the end of the two-story building. As he and Perry headed around the office and toward the long line of doors, they opened themselves up to being seen, but there was no way around it.

“Why didn’t you ask Vanessa to go with you?”

“Because you’ve got more experience.” Perry had been in the Navy and knew how to sweep and clear rooms. That kind of training stuck with a man forever.

Braden knew exactly how Perry would react if they were ambushed or fired upon and he needed that kind of person by his side right now. Vanessa was a good detective, but for this case, he didn’t give a shit if he hurt someone’s feelings or appeared sexist. He just wanted this monster caught.

He slowed as he neared room one-twenty. The curtains were slightly open. He motioned to duck down and they both crouched past the window. While Perry kept his back to the wall directly next to the door, Braden held up three fingers. On the count of three, he kicked the door in.

Immediately they both stormed the small room. Greg Murphy was sprawled out on the queen sized bed. On the dresser was a needle, the bottom part of a soda can and a lighter.

“Murphy? You alone?” Perry asked.

No response or movement from the bed. Braden motioned to Perry that he was going to check the bathroom. Tiny shampoo and lotion bottles were scattered on the tile floor, but they were otherwise alone.

Braden checked Murphy’s pulse, which was strong. He couldn’t decide if that was a good or bad thing. Considering the objects on the dresser, he guessed the scumbag had recently shot up with heroin. Probably right after he’d called Lilly. Unfortunately the effects could last anywhere from two to eight hours which meant he’d have to wait to question him.

“Hey, Murphy.” Braden smacked the guy’s face.

Murphy’s brows furrowed, then he opened his eyes. “What the hell are you doing in my room?” His pupils were dilated and his words slurred as he tried to focus on Braden.

“You’re under arrest for stalking, rape and murder.” Braden rolled him over and slapped cuffs on him.

Murphy didn’t even struggle. He just mumbled something incomprehensible.

Braden gritted his teeth and buzzed Vanessa and Officer Jordan. “We’re all clear.”

Perry let out a low whistle as he motioned to a cluster of pictures tacked up behind the door. “Check this out. I’d say this is our guy.”

About thirty pictures of Lilly covered the wooden surface. In all of them she was looking away from the camera or blocked by people. In some she wore a bathing suit, but in most she was bundled up in a scarf and jacket. From what he could tell, the majority looked like they’d been taken in D.C., but some were definitely taken since she’d been back in Hudson Bay. Since there weren’t any dates on them, Braden couldn’t decipher how long he’d been stalking her.