Searching for Shadows, page 28
“Please hurry,” she whispered as if they could hear her. “Please.”
Then she saw Zak--she could tell it was him because of his prosthetic leg—wave his arms frantically toward the group of firemen standing by with a hydraulic lift. More bodies rushed towards the site, a blur of movement in the growing twilight.
“Almost there.” Her hands were clenched tight around the controls, knuckles white from the strain. She pressed her forehead against the cool glass of the cockpit window, trying to see everything. “Don’t you dare give up, Connelly Davis.”
Radios crackled with urgent orders and pleas. Lights flashed high beams into the growing darkness, casting an eerie glow on the frantic scene below.
The radio went silent for a handful of heartbeats.
“What’s happening? Zak? Ash?” Her voice rose an octave with each name. “Someone tell me what the fuck is happening!”
“Veronica.” Zak’s voice finally crackled through the static on the radio. “We’ve got him. We’ve got him, and he’s alive.”
chapter thirty-six
Connelly stayed in the hospital for two nights, and despite his protests, Veronica didn’t leave his side. She slept in the chair next to his bed and didn’t once think about the fact she wasn’t in the safety of her home.
The morning of the third day, as they were preparing Connelly for discharge, Ash stopped by with news. “Jeremy Firestone just died from his injuries.”
Connelly gripped her hand. “Will there be any repercussions for Vee?”
Ash shook his head. “No. The airport’s security cameras caught the entire attack. It was an obvious case of self-defense, but if you’re worried, you can contact Cal. He said he’d be happy to defend you.”
She returned Connelly’s hand squeeze with a reassuring one of her own. “Thank you.”
Ash slid his notebook from his pocket. “Do feel up to running through it all with me, Connelly?”
Connelly sighed, a look of weariness flashing across his rugged features. He released her hand and nodded. “Yeah, let’s get this over with.”
“I’ll try to make it as painless as possible.” Ash sat down at the small table in the corner by the window and opened his notebook. “Start from when you left the Mad Dog that night. What happened?”
Connelly exhaled, long and slow, and closed his eyes. “Jeremy told me he still had some of Alfie’s things, so I stopped by on my way home to pick them up. He invited me inside. I was standing there in the living room, waiting for him to bring the box downstairs—and there was this smell. Like rotting meat.” He paused and swallowed hard. “I didn’t recognize it at first because it had a chemical undertone, but it was human decomp. I’m sure of it. I noticed he had my book on the coffee table, picked it up, and started to flip through it. It was full of notes. I looked at the title page and realized it was the copy I’d sent Veronica. The one she was missing. And I just—I knew. I started to turn to leave, and he hit me over the head. Next thing I remember was waking up in a metal box. I could hear the dirt hitting the top of it...” He trailed off, shuddered.
“Did you see Hank Firestone while you were at the house?” Ash asked.
“No, I think he was already dead. I think he was the reason the place smelled of decomp.”
“That lines up with the forensics reports,” Ash confirmed. “It appears Hank had been dead for a few weeks at least. Under the fire damage, he was already well into the advanced stages of decomposition.”
“Did Jeremy kill him?” Veronica asked. “When he spoke about Hank at the hangar, there was a lot of resentment in his voice. He acted like his father wasn’t worthy of being called The Shadow Stalker.”
“We can only speculate at this point, but I’d say it’s a good bet. Hank Firestone wasn’t delusional. He didn’t believe all that Shadow Stalker shit. He just liked to kill. That’s why his kills were so methodical. That’s why he got away with it for so long.”
“But Jeremy was batshit crazy,” Veronica said without a shred of doubt. “I saw it in his eyes. He called me his muse, said I’d be his masterpiece. He truly believed he would become The Shadow Stalker of legend when he killed me.”
Ash grunted. “The kid didn’t stand a chance. Not excusing what he did, but he was raised to kill. I got his adoption records unsealed, and he was Maria Socktish’s son. We’re still waiting on the paternity test, but I’m reasonably sure it will come back with Hank Firestone as his biological father.”
“No doubt. Jeremy looked just like Hank,” Connelly said.
Ash nodded. “I’ve known him since he was a kid and honestly never knew he was adopted.” He closed the notebook and tucked away his pen. “I think that’s all I need for now.”
He was almost to the door when a thought struck Veronica. “Hey, Ash?”
He stopped and turned back, an eyebrow raised in question.
“They killed Dr. Firestone, didn’t they?”
Ash’s lips thinned into a grim line. “We’re still waiting on forensics, but I do know for certain that Jaxon Thorne didn’t do it. Despite his confession, his DNA was nowhere on the scene. The current running theory is Dr. Firestone found out about her husband’s and son’s extracurricular activities, and one or both of them killed her to keep their secret. My money’s on Jeremy. Hank was a cold-blooded killer, but I do believe he truly loved his wife.”
Veronica thought back to how Hank had looked when he gave her Alfie—unkempt, exhausted, heartbroken—and she felt a weird tug of sympathy for him. “I think so, too. Nobody can fake that level of grief. But he created a monster he couldn’t control, and Dr. Firestone paid for it with her life.”
“Unfortunately,” Ash agreed, a hint of sorrow shadowing his stoic gaze. “She was a good woman. She didn’t deserve that.”
After the sheriff left, Connelly raised her hand to his lips. “I don’t think I ever thanked you for saving my life.”
She smiled and tilted her head in invitation as his lips brushed her neck just behind her ear. “I think you just did.”
“Vee.” Connelly waited until she looked at him before he whispered, “You are the most amazing woman I’ve ever known. When I thought I was going to die in that box—”
“Oh, don’t—”
He silenced her protest with a finger against her lips. “Let me finish. Right before I passed out, you were my very last thought, and I hated that I couldn’t give you the happily ever after you deserve.”
Tears flooded her eyes. “Connelly...”
“But, because of you, I got a second chance, and I’m not wasting it. I love you, Veronica. I’ve loved you since I first saw you riding your bike across the street with that gap-toothed smile and those lopsided pigtails in your hair.” He smiled at the memory and tugged on the end of her ponytail. “I knew from that moment I wanted to marry you someday, and I don’t want to wait any longer.”
His laptop case sat on the overbed table. He reached over and dug in the side pocket. She knew what he would pull out, but shock and wonder still coursed through her when she saw the small velvet box in his hand. Opening it up, he revealed a delicate engagement ring, the diamond sparking under the harsh hospital lights.
The tears spilled over. She tried to speak, but all she could manage was a choked sob as she threw her arms around him, burying her face in his shoulder. Connelly held her tight, whispering words of comfort and love into her hair.
“When did you get that?” She finally managed to ask between the sobs.
“Right before that weekend in San Antonio.”
Oh, God. Had he planned to propose for that long? And she hadn’t known, had never suspected he wanted more than friendship.
He pressed the box into her hand. The velvet was worn smooth, and she wondered how many times he’d opened the box to stare at the ring over the years.
She opened it now and picked the ring out.
“I know it’s not going to be easy,” he murmured, kissing her neck again as she examined the stone. “I know we both have our demons... but we’re stronger together. We can fight them together.”
She turned and looked into his hopeful eyes and saw all the love he had for her. Saw the past they’d shared. Saw the future they could have...
And, yes, she wanted it more than anything.
She slid the ring on her finger, then, as a slow, boyish smile spread across his lips, she cupped his cheeks in her palms and kissed him. “I love you, too, Connelly Davis, and I want nothing more than to spend the rest of my life with you.”
He returned the kiss with an intensity that sent a thrill through her. Warmth spread from his lips to every nerve ending and wrapped around her heart. Once the kiss broke, he buried his face in her hair and tightened his arms around her. She pressed her fingers into his back and just held on.
Finally, he pulled away and cupped her face in his hands, brushing a light kiss over her lips. “I’d like to write our story if you’re okay with it. It’s not horror, but I think it’s worth telling.”
“I’ve had my fill of horror for a while.” She turned her hand over, watching how the diamond sparkled. “Write me a love story, Connelly.”
His grin was quicksilver. “I already have.”
epilogue
Jaxon Thorne was innocent.
After receiving the call from a grumpier-than-usual Ash, Cal pumped a fist in the air.
He’d known it.
He’d defended killers before and knew Jax wasn’t one.
Sure, the guy had still done some pretty awful things. He’d hurt Alexis in his twisted quest for revenge, and he was going to spend time in prison for it.
But he wasn’t a serial killer.
He wasn’t a rapist.
He was a war veteran with severe PTSD, and the system had failed him. He’d tried to self-medicate with drugs and lost his mind, and Cal was going to make damn sure he got the help he needed while he served his time.
Cal pulled his chair out and sat heavily in it, the leather creaking under his weight. His mind buzzed with a million thoughts, jumping from one file to another in rapid succession. A sigh escaped his lips as he stared at the case files spread out on his desk.
Jaxon Thorne wasn’t the only one the system had failed. Unfortunately, he wouldn’t be the last.
But Cal would keep fighting for them all.
Because someone had to.
The shrill ring of his desk phone jerked him out of his thoughts. It was Ellie. He knew it before he even answered. He had expected her to call sooner rather than later, and now that it was here, he felt a strange mix of dread and relief.
“Cal.” Ellie’s voice came through the phone, frigid and sharp as shards of ice. “Is it true? Was Jaxon Thorne cleared of the murder charges?”
“Yes,” he said.
“He’s not walking free, is he? He still hurt Alexis. He tried to kill her!”
He could picture her expression—those beautiful blue eyes narrowed in anger, lips pursed in distress—and couldn’t blame her for her anger. She’d lost one sister already and, because of Jax’s actions, had nearly lost her other. It was only human to want someone to blame, someone to hate. But Jax—as messed up as he might be—wasn’t the root of all evil.
“I’m aware,” Cal replied, keeping his voice gentle. “And, no, he’s not walking free. He will face prison time.”
“Good.”
Silence stretched between them then, each second pulsating with tension. He finally couldn’t take it anymore and sighed.
“Ellie...” he began, but found himself at a loss for words, unsure how to comfort her when he wasn’t even sure what he was feeling himself.
“I don’t think there’s anything else to say. Goodbye, Cal.” She hung up.
Cal listened to the dial tone a moment more before slowly placing the handset back in its cradle. He ran a hand through his already disheveled hair, struggling to focus on the mound of paperwork before him. He was well aware that his decision to defend Jaxon Thorne hadn’t endeared him to Ellie at all. But he also knew that he couldn’t have lived with himself if he’d allowed Jax to become another faceless victim of a system that was all too quick to condemn.
His gaze strayed back to the Shadow Stalker case files open in front of him. They still held secrets, riddles, unanswered questions that would probably haunt him for the rest of his life.
But one name caught his eye, and he reached for the folder, flipping it open.
Hope Summers.
Ellie’s oldest sister, who disappeared twenty years ago. She was the whole reason Alexis and Ellie had come to California and been swept up in the Shadow Stalker case. It was assumed she’d been a Stalker victim, but Hank Firestone had kept trophies, and none of them had belonged to Hope.
Cal traced his fingers over the blurry picture of Hope. She had dark hair, unlike the other two Summers women, who were both blond, but her eyes were identical to Ellie’s. She’d been eighteen when she vanished. Ellie had been only six. Alexis, eight. Did they even remember her? He knew he didn’t remember much from when he was that young. And yet they had left their lives behind in Chicago to come here and search for her.
A lightbulb went off inside his mind. He pulled her file free from the others and turned to his computer.
This was it. He couldn’t change his job for Ellie, but he could put it to work for her. He was a damn good researcher.
He would find Hope.
And then, maybe Ellie would forgive him.
The Redwood Coast Rescue adventure continues with Cal and Ellie’s story, Searching for Hope.
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also by tonya burrows
Redwood Coast Rescue
Searching for Rescue
Searching for Risk
Searching for Justice
Searching for Redemption
Searching for Hope
Northern Rescue
Northern Escape
Northern Deception
Northern Salvation
HORNET
SEAL of Honor
Honor Reclaimed
Broken Honor
Code of Honor
Reckless Honor
Honor Avenged
HORNET: Class Alpha
Fragmented Loyalty
Wilde Security
Wilde Nights in Paradise
Wilde for Her
Wilde at Heart
Running Wilde
Too Wilde to Tame
Tonya Burrows, Searching for Shadows
