The Poet's Blood (Heinous Crimes Unit Book 7), page 16
Christian didn’t necessarily like talking to this version of himself, but he had another question he needed answering. “Have you seen another version of me walking around? One who looks…happier? He doesn’t have any scars.”
The Other’s smile faded. He blinked and blood splatter fell from his face and dotted the floor around his feet. “I know who you’re talking about. I’ve seen him in the hallways. He’s dangerous.”
“Dangerous to who?” Christian asked. “Me, or you?”
The Other stared at him for a long moment. Finally, he said, “Is there any difference?”
Christian opened his eyes and saw Collins on his bed with a computer resting on his stomach.
His slight movement alerted the FBI agent. Collins closed his laptop and peered at Christian. “You done?” he asked.
Things were unfolding inside Christian’s mind. Things that he didn’t understand yet. His subconscious mind was undergoing changes and it would take time for him to reach their truths. However, he had learned a little about the killers during his time in the mansion. That the killers were dangerous to him was something he didn’t yet understand. The most important takeaway he’d gotten from the bizarre encounter was that they had to go speak with the dead babies’ grandfather.
That was what his mind had been telling him. Senator Albert Franklin from the great state of Alabama was the key to solving the case and stopping more people from dying.
Collins raised his eyebrows. ”Hello? Earth to Windsor. You done?”
Christian pulled himself to a sitting position. “Yeah, I’m done.”
Collins radiated expectation. “Well? Did you find anything out?”
Christian nodded and leaned against the headboard, catching sight of the photo of him and Collins that was displayed on the television. The words on the screen made him lose his train of thought. “So, that was a reporter in the hallway.”
“Not exactly,” Collins said. “She was a freelancer who sold the video to a network. She had a hidden camera on her uniform, probably an expensive one that looked like a button or something. Don’t focus on that right now. Tell me whether or not you found anything.”
Christian closed his eyes and the image of the massive bleeding babies filled his mind. “I know where we have to go next.”
Collins sat up and swung his legs off the bed. “Where?”
“We’ve got to talk to Senator Franklin,” Christian said.
Collins was quiet for a second. He pressed his fingers to his temples and groaned. “Do you have any idea how horrible that idea is? If I take it to Sins, she’s going to have me put in the cell next to yours.”
“Why?” Christian asked.
“His grandchildren were the first murders. Franklin has been questioned up and down and inside out. He’s angrier with the Bureau than just about anyone else. He’s been railing against us more with each new murder. If I tell Sins we have to go back and ask him more questions? That you need to? She’s going to tell me to go fuck myself, in those exact words.”
Christian sighed. “I can’t deal with the politics. I’ve never been able to. All I know is that these murders started with his family. They were his grandkids, and there wasn’t any motive beyond cold-hearted murder. I need to talk to him, and then I’ll be able to tell you who the killers are.”
Collins stood and walked over to the door. He leaned his head against it, his back facing Christian. “Is this a wild goose chase, Windsor? I’m putting my neck out here. If I go to Sins about this, I’m going to have to push for it. Someone else might die while we’re chasing our asses around Alabama. If nothing comes from it, it could be the end of my career.” He turned around and faced Christian. “So far, you haven’t given us anything that’s helped.”
Christian nodded. “I know. I’ve only been to two crime scenes. Remember, no one else is finding anything, either. I’m telling you, I need to speak with him. He holds the key to solving this case. The murders started there, and that’s where we’ll find the truth.”
Another long sigh came from Collins. “If this doesn’t pan out, I’m done. I want you to know that now. If Sins allows us to question him and you can’t tell me anything concrete, I’m taking you back to prison. It’s not personal. When I was assigned to you, I didn’t want the job. I thought you were insane and might get me killed. I don’t think that anymore. You’ve got more issues than the average person, but you’re not dangerous. But I can’t keep chasing leads that aren’t giving us anything.”
Christian nodded. “I understand. This will pan out.”
CHAPTER NINETEEN
Luke took the newspaper out of the tray in the sliding compartment attached to his cell wall. The orderly had already exited the unit, leaving him alone with his paper. He didn’t read the front page until he’d laid it out on his single table and sat down in his chair.
His lips twinged in a smile.
You made the front page again, Christian, he thought. You never cease to amaze me.
Luke looked at the pixelated image of his former partner and FBI Agent Patrick Collins standing in front of an open hotel room door. Collins looked shocked and angry, his finger pointing at the person taking the picture. Christian was looking in the direction of the camera, but his face showed no emotion about what was taking place.
Your mind is elsewhere, Luke thought. Your mansion is opening up to you. Whatever happened inside that hotel room, that’s where you’re focused.
Luke read through the article. The FBI was plagued by leaks. Multiple unnamed sources had discussed their misgivings about the former agent consulting on this crime with the media. However, they were also openly admitting they were out of options. Luke’s smile faded as he calculated the likely permutations of what might happen next.
He didn’t understand the two most volatile variables well enough to come to a solid conclusion, but this development did nothing to further his purpose. The FBI had messed up again, but this time their mishap could hurt him because it was going to hurt Christian.
Luke had almost let Christian die at the hands of a madman years ago. Then he’d nearly killed him in Arizona. Christian had survived to remain an integral part of Luke’s purpose.
He could not permit him to die at someone else’s hands. That couldn’t be allowed if the rest of his plan was to bear fruit. Luke pushed the newspaper to the side and picked up a sheet of paper and pencil.
He started on his letter.
CHAPTER TWENTY
The night before Luke Titan received his newspaper, Brian and Bonnie were lying low. They had the television on a news channel in the background, paying little attention to the endless cycle of doom unless it came around to segments about where the police and FBI were with their investigation.
“Who’s that?” Bonnie asked when Christian Windsor’s face appeared on the screen.
Brian lowered the book he was reading and narrowed his eyes to focus on grainy video playing on the screen. He shook his head, not believing what he was seeing when the words popped up, almost jumping into the living room.
Christian Windsor Assisting FBI in Murder Case.
“That’s him!” Bonnie said. “That’s him, goddammit!”
Brian stood and his book fell to the floor, forgotten. He squatted in front of the television, not considering that he was blocking his sister’s view. He had to be absolutely positive that it was Christian Windsor standing in that hotel hallway.
He studied the man’s face hard, looking for the circular scar where that other psychopath had stabbed him. The scar was visible despite the low resolution of the video.
“Well, shit,” Brian murmured.
“This ain’t good, Brian,” Bonnie said. “This ain’t supposed to happen.”
Brian ran his hand roughly across his bald head. “I know, damn it. I know.”
Their plan was originally supposed to be put into action years earlier, but neither Brian nor Bonnie were idiots. They weren’t going to start their vengeance killings without forethought. Daddy and Momma hadn’t raised them to be rash. They planned, and they were careful about what they did.
They had no false ideas about what would happen once they began. They would be classified as serial killers, and a very specific team of FBI agents would start chasing them. When the man on the television screen joined the FBI and his track record for catching serial killers brought him notoriety, Brian hadn’t been sure if they’d ever be able to get retribution.
Brian nor Bonnie weren’t sure they’d live long enough for him to retire. They were smart enough to know they weren’t smart enough to outmaneuver him. They listened to their daddy, and he’d told them to wait. He’d said that opportunity would present itself if they waited, and it had.
Christian Windsor had ended up in prison and they had been free to put the plan into action because there wasn’t anyone in the FBI who could uncover their hidden past.
Until now.
He closed his eyes, listening for his Daddy’s voice to guide him.
“Brian, do ya hear Daddy?” Bonnie asked.
No one was speaking to him, but he could hear their feet shuffling around in the dining room. They were agitated. They probably would start talking soon. “No, they ain’t talkin’ yet. You?”
“Yeah, I hear Daddy fine,” his sister told him.
“What’s he sayin’?”
“That we gotta kill him. He’s sayin’ we’re too close to stop now, and Windsor’s gonna find us if we don’t do somethin’ ‘bout it.”
Brian rubbed his hand over his head again, his anger growing. Things had been going about as well as they could expect given the business they were in now. He bared his teeth, his lips peeling back in a sick grimace. “We can’t just kill him, Bonnie. How we gonna get to him if he’s with the FBI?”
His sister laughed. “How’d we get to all of ‘em, Brian? We’ll do it the exact same way, ‘less you wanna give him a chance to find us? This ain’t over, not by a long shot. Or did ya forget what they did to us? Why we’re doin’ this?”
Brian turned and glared at her. “I ain’t forgot a goddamn thing.”
Their family had gathered behind her. They stared at him. Their blackened, burnt faces and missing lips made it hard to tell whether they were grinning or snarling.
Their teeth shone white all the same.
THE POETS
Bonnie didn’t see her father until a few days after her brother had told her what had happened in the library. She’d thought he was full of shit and told him so when he kept talking about their daddy and she still hadn’t been visited.
The day it happened for Bonnie, Brian had been sitting on his bed and staring her down. “I ain’t lyin’ to ya,” he’d insisted. “I saw him. He’ll come to you, too.”
She’d wanted to curse him for bringing it up. Bonnie wanted her family back more than she wanted to breathe, but there wasn’t anything she could do about it. Her family was gone and they weren’t coming back, and him saying they were was just going to make her cry.
She’d left the room and wandered around the orphanage for a while, trying not to cry because she hadn’t wanted the other kids seeing her in a weak moment. Kids had to be tough here, but that wasn’t anything new to Bonnie. Her family hadn’t allowed her to show any weakness. She couldn’t give in to her feelings, not with what Daddy had told her was coming in the future.
The future had arrived, one with a growing government whose constant overreach destroyed families. Her family. Bonnie thought about that as she walked. What was going to happen in the future now that her parents weren’t there to protect her and Brian? How would they survive when the world came for them? She didn’t have the answers. She wanted to ask Brian about it, but she knew he didn’t have the answers either.
The answers had always been with her father, with her mother.
I’m too young, she’d thought. I’m too young to know what to do, and so is Brian. She hadn’t realized that it was a surprisingly mature thought back then.
She’d ended up outside on the basketball court. It was a dilapidated place that had only one intact goal, which had no net attached to the rim. Some of the kids were playing on the side with the hoop, shooting a worn ball that had almost no tread on it.
Bonnie didn’t go near them. She sat under the broken goal and leaned against the pole. She put her hands on the crumbling asphalt and felt the rough rock beneath her fingertips.
Was Brian lying, or had Daddy come to him? If it was true, what did it mean that he hadn’t come to her, too? Did he love Brian more than he loved her? Did her family not really love her?
Bonnie had remained on the dilapidated court long after the kids had stopped playing and gone inside. No one came looking for her, not even her brother, but she wasn’t upset with him for that. She and Brian had a bond that was stronger than the rest of their family. Daddy had always said it was because they were twins.
You got to be there for each other, no matter what, he’d often told them. Family is all we got.
Now they had no more family. It was just the two of them against the world.
Maybe it was facing the thought that she didn’t have any other family besides her brother. Or maybe it was when she’d wondered if Daddy had gone to Brian instead of her because he loved her brother more.
Or maybe her brain had finally broken.
Whatever the reason, Daddy had come to her as the sun was going down.
His naked skin was black with ash. His hair and his eyelids had been burnt away. He was still dead, but it hadn’t felt weird to her that he was there. None of it did. She was overjoyed to see her dead father.
The sun had been behind Daddy as he walked out onto the asphalt, but he’d cast no shadow. Tiny bits of ash floated from his flesh. Bonnie had suddenly worried that he would disappear, that the ash would drift into the breeze and her Daddy would be blown away. She’d shot to her feet, truly scared that he’d disappear right in front of her.
Tears filled her eyes and she’d fought her fear, refusing to let them fall. Daddy had never let them cry. Life was hard, so they had to be harder.
I’m not goin’ anywhere, he’d said. I ain’t never leavin’ agin, child.
Bonnie’s voice had trembled as she’d asked, “You promise?”
I promise.
He stared at Bonnie in what should have been a horrendously fearful display, but it only brought her comfort. She didn’t question that she heard his voice in her head instead of out loud.
“Where’s Momma?” she’d asked.
She’s comin’, if you want her.
Bonnie nodded. “I do. I want her, and Uncle Ted and Aunt Jill, and even the cousins. I want all y’all back.”
Her father had closed the gap between them, and never once did Bonnie think of running. He stopped once they were inches apart, his cold blue staring endlessly into hers as they had so many times before. He couldn’t blink anymore. Seeing everything, but then again, Bonnie always thought he could see everything when he was alive.
She’d hardly ever hugged her Daddy, but she couldn’t help it on that day. She wrapped her arms around the dead man, closing her eyes and burying her face in his burnt stomach. After a moment, his arms wrapped around her. She could count on one hand how many times Daddy had hugged her, and she wasn’t letting go until she absolutely had to.
The ash floated off his skin, but she didn’t worry about that. He’d told her he wasn’t going anywhere. She breathed in the ash, knowing she was breathing in her father and wanting it so he would always be part of her.
The sun had gone down when she’d realized he was no longer there with her. Her arms were still wrapped in the position of a hug, but now they held only air. She’d slowly dropped them to her sides and looked around the basketball court. There wasn’t anyone else outside. No one to see her.
She’d looked down at her clothes expecting to see black smudges everywhere, fearful that she wouldn’t be able to explain the mess to the headmaster. Her clothes were as clean as they’d been when she’d come out here. She’d looked at her hands. They were clean, too.
Daddy had been looking out for her, even then. He wouldn’t do anything that would get her in trouble like dirtying her clothes.
Bonnie had smiled as she’d walked off the court. She hadn’t needed to understand what was happening that moment. She’d made her way back through the orphanage and found Brian in their shared room.
He’d looked up when she walked in, slipping his hand inside his pocket and pulling out two rolls. “Dinner is done, but I grabbed these in case you’re hungry.”
She had still been smiling, unable to stop. “He came, Brian. Daddy came to me, too.”
He hadn’t questioned if she was lying, and that was something Bonnie always appreciated. He’d never doubted her, or thought she was crazy. He’d just returned her smile.
“What did he say?”
Bonnie hadn’t been able to contain her joy. “He told me our whole family will come back if we want.”
Brian had looked down at the floor. “Was he...”
Bonnie had known what he meant. “Yes, but that’s okay. Ain’t it?”
Brian had nodded, but he didn’t look at her. “They’re all gonna look like that.”
Bonnie had gone to her brother and hugged someone for the second time that day, and he’d wrapped his arms around her. “It’s okay. It don’t matter what they look like. They’re coming back and that’s all that matters.”
In the end, she had been right.
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
Patrick sat beside Windsor in the senator’s waiting room. He had been here before and the opulence of the décor was somewhat lost on him this time. The senator’s assistant had greeted them in the office outside of the waiting room and sent them to this room to wait for their appointment to begin. The setup was odd, but Patrick supposed that getting past the secretary meant they were trusted to wait until the senator called them in.
