Slenderman Page 8

  He whirled away from her and paced. Not his usual smooth stride but in fits and starts as if he were at a loss for words. “When were you going to tell me?”

  “I don’t know. When we had time to talk?”

  “You had enough time to tell me about Ian and Redden staying, and we had an entire discussion on why, but you didn’t tell me this?”

  She stretched so her muscles wouldn’t cramp after their workout and to have something to do to burn off her nerves as well as her own anger. “Because ever since you were kidnapped and Rian watched it happen, you’ve been overprotective. Hell, I’ve been waiting for you to quit your residency and volunteer at GlenCare just to keep an eye on your brother. Even though that place has more security than a bank.”

  “I’m not giving up my dream again, but you also can’t fault me for wanting my family safe.” Rhys’s gaze pierced her. “It’s just this list though. No more.”

  “No more.” The unsaid yet hovered on the tip of her tongue, but she bit it back.

  “How deep is Rian involved?”

  Jo took a breath and straightened from her stretch. “Of the twelve victims, eight are tied to Rian’s clan which is how he discovered the case in the first place.”

  “Eight?!” Rhys’s face reddened, and his finger jabbed accusingly at her. “That’s not a coincidence, Jo. Do you think Rian’s in danger?”

  Jo placed her hands on Rhys’s chest his muscles became rigid under her palms. She’d mistaken how angry he was. Yanking her hands away, she smoothed them across her shorts. He was not ready to be soothed yet. “I don’t think so. The victims all left the clan and Rian’s still in it. Not only in it, but he also runs it so he shouldn’t be a target.”

  “But you don’t know.”

  “No.” She moved closer again, and he all but jumped to the other side of the room. Bile rose to the back of her throat.

  “I can’t think about this right now. Give me some time to process you bringing my brother into this even if it was an accident. You promised to keep that door locked so he couldn’t pop in.”

  Jo nodded numbly. It was true, but with all of them in that one room, it’d been stifling with it shut. The second she heard Rian she should have closed and locked it. But hindsight was always twenty-twenty.

  Rhys stopped at the base of the stairs and turned back to her. “Were any of the victims kids?”

  “Two. One was seventeen, and one was fifteen—”

  “Jesus.” He raked a hand through his hair and left her.

  Chapter 7

  The third bridal shop felt like more Jo’s speed. Not filled with frills and spindly parlor chairs that looked as if they’d buckle if Jo sat in one. No fussy teacups or tall flutes of champagne. This shop had couches that customers could fall into if it took the bride longer than a few minutes to change. Bottles of water and cola mixed among teacups and flutes. It felt more down to earth, which was exactly what Jo appreciated. Now if she could just find her dream gown without dwelling on yesterday’s argument. Or the anger at Rhys calling the hospital so he could work the second shift and leaving her alone on what had been their first day off together in almost a week.

  She flicked another dress away, lost in thought. Rhys hadn’t been that angry with her in a while. Not since they’d first got together, when she’d been hurt on the Gravedigger case. Another dress followed the former to the left side of the rack.

  “I heard you and Rhys had an argument.” Maddy interrupted Jo’s circling thoughts.

  “Yes.” It was so much more. He hadn’t let her sooth him, instead he’d walked away and then fled the house. It was as if he couldn’t be anywhere near her and he hadn’t been in the bed when she woke this morning either. Second shift usually ended a little after midnight, but at four he still hadn’t made it home. She knew because she’d checked every bedroom and couch in the house. Unable to sleep, Jo had finally made coffee and called her mother to see about moving their time up at the first dress shop.

  “I heard it was because you involved Rian in your latest case.”

  Frustrated, Jo swung around to her mother, who was at another rack tucked in the corner. “You hear an awful lot. Do you have a spy now?”

  Maddy laughed. “Not likely. Joseph called Carl to come help tighten security around your home.”

  Joining her mother, Jo leaned against Maddy’s side. “Rhys hasn’t been this mad at me in a long time. I forgot what it was like.”

  “What did you expect, Jo?” Maddy stopped on a tulle dress that looked too girly for Jo’s taste.

  “I don’t know. That we could talk about it? Work it out like we’ve been doing.” She took the dress from her mother and slapped it back on the rack.

  “Except this hits closer to home.” Maddy nudged Jo back a step. “You’ve pulled his little brother into another case.”

  “And he’s not worried about me?”

  “No, because you can take care of yourself and Rhys knows this. You choose to be out there hunting criminals.” Maddy gripped Jo’s upper arms. “And you’re good at it. Rian is innocent. Yes, he’s a big strapping man on the outside, but inside he’s still a twelve-year-old that believes you and Rhys can keep him safe.”

  “I’m not putting him in danger, Mom. We only got a list from him.”

  “And you got nothing from either Rhys or Rian the last time a violent case touched your family. They were innocent victims. And what happened then?”

  “Rhys forced Rian to take Arabelle and hide in the woods and then went to confront the kidnappers.” Jo shivered at the memory. To discover Rhys hadn’t just been kidnapped but had been shot. It had killed her those hours she didn’t know if he were dead or alive.

  “And when Rhys was taken, he was shot trying to defend us. I know, because if you remember Carl and I were taken along with Rhys. I was the one who helped stem the bleeding. Carl was the one who worked to distract Sharon, hoping for an opening so we could escape.” Maddy’s face paled the more she talked about that day. Then she shook herself and took a breath. “Give him time to wrap his head around yet another dangerous case where the killer is an unknown and loose on the streets. Let him slap up more outdoor security cameras to help protect all of you, and above all let him approach you when he’s ready to talk.”

  Jo didn’t like waiting. She hated going to bed angry and would rather stay up hashing everything out. Her mother was right though. This case was shaping up to be like Gravedigger and Skinned in the complexity. With her normal cases they caught the killer within a few days, a week at most. The killers were usually someone the victim knew or had dealings with. Robberies were different and could be more challenging, but again there was always a thread. The smart robbers cased the places and then struck or the impulsive robbers who were high or desperate for cash. It didn’t matter who the killer was, Jo and her team caught them. Realizing her mother was right, she sighed. “Okay, I’ll try to have patience and let him come to me.”

  “Now quit moping and help me find your wedding dress,” Maddy ordered, pointing toward the rack Jo had abandoned.

  “Yes ma’am.”

  “What do you think about this one?” Maddy lifted a dress.

  Jo shook her head at the dress her mother held up. “Too much lace. I don’t want to scratch my way down the aisle.” Flipping through a few more dresses, she finally asked the question she’d been putting off asking for over a month. “Mom, do you think Pop would mind if I asked bio-dad to walk me down the aisle?”

  Silence fell between them. Not even hangers dragging across the metal bars broke it.

  “You don’t want Carl to walk with you?”

  She gasped and swung around to face her mother. “No, I want them both to do it.”

  Maddy came over and wrapped her arms around Jo. Her mother was almost the same height as Jo. Ther
e were so many similarities between them. Brown hair, though Maddy’s had more silver than brown now. Petite frames that everyone underestimated until they tangled with the two women. The only characteristic Jo took from her biological father was her eyes. The rest was Maddy.

  “I think Carl would love that. He and Joseph have been going fishing once a month now that Joseph quit his government job. They both want to get to know each other.”

  Jo stepped back to the plain dress section. She’d always thought her bio-dad was a hitman until after he retired. He finally told her he worked for the CIA but couldn’t go into details. Not that she wanted them but to know he worked for their government set her mind at ease and allowed her to grow closer to him. “Do they have fun?”

  “Oh Lord, hon, they come in telling the biggest whoppers, so I’m going to say yes.”

  “I used to resent that you named me after bio-dad.” Resent was a tame word for how Jo had felt. She had often thought of changing it after she turned eighteen but couldn’t quite make herself follow through, though she had filled the form out several times.

  Maddy came to rest on Jo’s right her arm around Jo’s waist. “I know you did. I regretted it when you grew older and told me how much you hated Josephine, and it wasn’t like you wanted to use your middle name. As big a tomboy as you were no way would you ever go by Lavette.”

  Jo leaned her head on her mother’s shoulder. “I don’t mind my name so much anymore.”

  It had taken her a long time to let go of her anger at Joseph and her half-sisters. Not until Rhys came into her life had she begun to forgive Joseph for not being at the big events such as her birthdays, high school graduation, when she graduated from college, and then the academy. No celebration when she became a detective. The absence dug at her. Carl was a great substitute but growing up everyone had commented how she and Carl looked nothing alike. It was true. The only trait she had inherited from Carl was her love of police work. It was the one aspect of her personality she could point to and say ‘See, I’m just like Pop.’

  Rhys however, had an opposing view. Yes, Joseph hadn’t been there for her birthdays or graduations. But he had been there at the life-threatening events such as saving her when Jo was five. Walking through a heavily guarded warehouse to pull her from a refrigerator where she would have died if not for her bio-dad. Then the man had killed anyone at that warehouse, protecting her as only he knew how.

  Joseph wasn’t a kind man, he was more abrupt and harsh than warm and laid back like Carl. But when the chips were down, Joseph had always been there. During Rhys’s kidnapping, he had guarded Rian and kept him safe until Jo was able to do it. During the Gravedigger case, when Jo had given up hope of finding the guy pulling bodies from graves, her bio-dad had dug up a lead for them. And now, when Jo had mentioned the Slenderman case and how it tied with Rian, Joseph took more time out of his schedule to come and work with Rian. Then took it a step further by helping install a security system to set Rhys’s mind at ease.

  Joseph didn’t have to do any of it, but he chose to, and that made Jo see him in a softer light. Over the last few years, she’d grown to care about him.

  Maddy cleared her throat, causing Jo to turn and see the tears shimmering in her mother’s eyes. “Stop it, Mom. You’re not supposed to do that until I find my wedding dress.”

  Maddy snorted and shook her head. “I probably should let you know, Joseph and Carl talked, and we’re coming over during your honeymoon to keep an eye Rian.”

  “Really?” Jo breathed the words past numb lips and then released a happy chuckle. “Oh, that would be perfect. I don’t know if this case will be solved before we leave, but even if it is, we’ll rest so much easier knowing Rian and Lisa have someone on the property who can defend them.”

  “It’s settled then. Besides, having Carl and Joseph around will give Rian someone to hang with while you two are gone. A distraction, so he doesn’t miss y’all.” Maddy beamed at Jo. “And maybe I can convince Marta to give me her secret Potato Soup recipe. Hers is so much creamier than mine.”

  Before Jo could respond Gretchen, their consultant, bustled in. “So, have you ladies found anything?”

  Jo pulled three dresses she’d set on the hooks outside of the racks. One she loved and would save it for last. Maddy lifted her three from a rack she’d shuffled them on to.

  “Great. Let’s see if you two have found the one.”

  They followed the polished woman to a large dressing room. Mirrors hung from three walls and a pedestal stood in the center. Behind her, Maddy and Gretchen hung each of the dresses across hooks next to the door.

  Jo shook out her shoulders, releasing the tension, and tried to relax. She would rather have eloped, but her mother would’ve killed her. Not to mention how she wanted to make Rhys hers in a public fashion. After seeing how many women flirted with him at the charity events, Jo needed them to see he was hers.

  “Which do you want to start with, hon?” Maddy asked.

  “Can we do the ones you picked first?”

  Her mother smiled. “Sure.”

  And it began. Jo’s closest friend had explained how dress shopping worked. So she hadn’t put on much makeup, just her everyday lip gloss, powder, and blush. Her hair was swept up in its usual French twist. Jo didn’t want a lot of fanfare. Simple and classy were her go-to words.

  The first dress was a hard no. Gretchen’s eyes widened. “Normally, we have to tell the bride not to ‘yes’ us to death or to weed out the groups of ‘maybes.’“

  Maddy laughed. “No worries. We’ll let you know where we stand. If we don’t like it, we’ll say something.”

  Her mother’s last two choices were a toss-up. Jo liked the beadwork on the last one, but the lace was too much. “Set it in the maybe and then we’ll figure out what you like about it and see if Gretchen can find something along the lines.”

  Jo nodded and reached for her choices. The accents on the dresses she chose were more in the cut, except the last. Jo took the A-line dress with a flared skirt first. It was by far her favorite with how little embellishment adorned the cream-colored material. The dress nipped in at the waist, giving her a Tinkerbell look. Her mother gasped but shook her head. “It’s not quite right, but I love how simple it is. It brings out the sparkle in your eyes, and the color makes your skin glow. Not to mention the top makes you look like you have boobs which Rhys will love—”

  “No sex talk, Mom.” Jo wiggled her hips, and the dress fell to the floor. “This is a maybe. I like the feel, but I’m not crazy about how full the bottom is. I’m liable to rip it with my heels. Or tangle Rhys and me up in the skirt during pictures.”

  Gretchen held up the second of Jo’s choices. It had a mermaid silhouette which Jo wasn’t a fan of but she loved how the material gathered at the knees, and there wasn’t a train. When she put it on it still didn’t feel right. Her eyes strayed to the last dress.

  “Okay, this is a no. You keep looking at the sheath dress so let’s see how it looks.”

  Her hands trembled as she stepped into the floor-length gown. The bodice hugged her narrow waist and hips. It felt like cool water across her skin, and the half sleeves hugged her arms. The front dipped too much for Jo’s liking, but that could be fixed. No embellishments touched the satiny material, allowing her to be the only adornment. It dragged the floor, but that was because Jo was short and not because of the way the dress was made.

  Gretchen lifted the bottom. “This piece will brush the floor, and there’s no train.”

  Maddy’s sniffed as she said, “This is the one, hon.”

  Jo met her mother’s watery gaze in the mirror and nodded. Sensing she needed a moment, Maddy distracted Gretchen as Jo pictured herself walking down the aisle in this dress. Imagined Rhys’s face lighting up and opened her eyes and smiled. This was the dress she would be married in. />
  “Oh Gretchen, when the dress is made, I need enough room for a thigh holster since I can’t wear my ankle holster in this dress.” Jo pointed to the juncture between her legs. “The gun can go here, so it doesn’t bulge the dress.”

  Gretchen’s eyes widened, and she spun around to face Maddy again. “Is she serious?”

  “Oh yes. Carl had his shoulder holster on when we were married. It’s part of being a cop-they don’t like going anywhere unarmed.”

  “O-okay.” Gretchen gave them both a hesitant smile. “I’ll be sure to let them know.”

  Chapter 8

  In the daylight, Franklin’s house was very different than at night. Jo thought Redden and Ian would appreciate not being forced to face the scariest house she’d ever encountered under the veil of darkness. Stepping from the car, she rested her hand on the butt of her gun and eyed the shadows under the porch and bushes.

  “Jo?” Redden asked from the sidewalk leading up to the house.

  She jolted, dragging her weapon half out of its holster and startling Ian who was standing next to her.

  “Jesus Jo, what the hell? I thought you said the guy was a friend.” Ian’s hand left his heart as he frowned at her.

  “He is. His house is scary as hell though.”

  Ian’s gaze bounced around the yard and the house before he clapped his hand on Jo’s shoulder. “I don’t know what you drank last night, but this is the most boring house on the block.”

  She glanced at the other houses and had to agree. The others were decorated in various Halloween themes, some scary and others so over the top as to be funny. Franklin’s house had only a few strands of webbing attached to the trees with an odd sheet draped in the branches. No zombies crawled from under the porch. No spiders skittered across the front wall, and no petrifying ghost raged in the tree. The gray and white house was boring . . . until night descended. Then all the creepy crawlies would come out and turn the boring house into a living nightmare.