Out Of The Shadows (HADES) (Whiskey Bend MC Series, Book #4)

Chicago

Dawn was breaking the next morning when the phone shattered the absolute quiet. It was a bad way to start the day. Caden Ridge groaned at the intrusion and pulled the covers down to his waist. His dark hair was tousled from sleep, and he couldn’t quite open his eyes. Inhaling deeply, Caden sat straight up in bed, his heart pounding.

He looked around his bedroom for the object that so rudely woke him. When the phone rang again, he reached out and picked up the receiver. He knew it wasn’t good news. He heard his partner’s voice on the other end, and Jake’s voice held a hint of panic as he blurted out an address. When he hung up, Caden frowned at the receiver in his hand.

Caden knew Jake didn’t shake easily. He rubbed his hand over his eyes. Throwing aside the sheet, he swung his legs over the side of the bed and reached for his pants.

Ten minutes later, he was on his way out the front door. His car engine growled in protest as he accelerated out of the driveway. His mind was way ahead of his body, and he wondered what he would find when he arrived at the corner of Fifth and Elm.

As he turned the last corner, he saw several police cars with their red and blue bubble lights flashing. Jake’s blue Mustang blocked the street. Pulling up beside the Mustang, Caden shut down his engine and opened his car door.

Making his way to Jake, he tried to look over the Police Captain’s shoulder to see what he was bending over.

Caden he asked his friend and partner, “What is this?”

Jake didn’t say a word as he handed him a note in a plastic evidence bag.

Caden stared at Jake with a frown.

“Do you remember what happened here five years ago?” Jake asked.

Caden nodded, cocked his head, and waited for Jake to continue.

“I guess he’s back.” Jake motioned toward the body on the ground. “You might want to read the note before you say anything,” he advised him.

Caden gazed at the note. His frown grew as the contents of the note began sinking in. He glanced up at Jake again. “Sweet Jesus, I thought he was dead.”

“Yeah, maybe you did but guess what? The bastard is alive and back in town. This time he’s almost daring you to take him down. You and some guy named Charlie.” Jake growled.

Caden paled and started to turn his head toward the body. “That would be Charlie Boone. He’s from a small town called Whiskey Bend, up in Wisconsin.” Pausing he asked, “Is it Harper?”

Jake shook his head. “No, not this time, but it is someone’s sister or daughter.”

Caden scanned the note again.

To Detectives Caden Ridge and Charlie Boone

You almost prevented this young woman’s death. Notice I said almost, but not quite. Even though you gave her a new name, I know where she is and who she is.

Harper… Hope won’t get away this time and neither will you. I know where you hid her and I’ve been watching her for a while now. I have plans for her. When I send her to hell, she won’t be as beautiful as she is right now. I’m going to make you beg for death, both hers and your own. But first, I’m going to have some fun. How many more will die before you catch me? I wonder.

He snapped a picture of it on his phone and handed the letter back to Jake. He handed it back to the technician.

Caden balled his fist and wanted to hit something, something very hard. He stepped forward to view what lay beyond the Captain’s shoulder.

He could see that she had been a beautiful young woman. Her features appeared peaceful, almost as if she was sleeping, but Caden knew different. He could have been looking at any one of seven young women from five years ago. The killer hadn’t touched her face, but the gaping slash across her throat and the amount of blood soaking her clothes told him she was dead. The front of her dress bore several stab marks and the ground was soaked dark red.

Caden knelt beside her and gently pushed aside her dress. The top of her right thigh told him what he was hoping he wouldn’t learn. There it was; the telltale slash of her femoral artery. It was the killer’s M.O.

Caden closed his eyes. It was like a nightmare coming back to haunt him. A nightmare he had hoped would never see the light of day again.

He hesitated then reached up to open her mouth. Inside he found the killer’s calling card. It was the Ace of Hearts. “Damn,” he spoke softly. He felt Captain Paul Hatcher’s gaze boring into his head.

“What do you know about this guy?” Paul asked.

Caden sighed deeply. “His last visit was five years ago and seven women ended up like her. I have a file about twelve inches thick back at the office… this bastard is not one I’ll forget anytime soon. He’s a particularly nasty piece of work. He likes to torture his victims, plain and simple, before he watches them bleed to death. We found out that the stab wounds aren’t lethal, they look like they would be but he’s careful not to hit anything vital. The real cause of death is the cut on the artery on her leg. We tracked him for months and I thought we killed him but I guess we were wrong.”

“You found him once,” Paul replied. “You can find him again, preferably before another body turns up.”

“It’s not going to be as easy this time. He knows how to disappear when he wants to.”

Paul shrugged his shoulders. “I don’t care. If he’s out there, you have to find him. By the way, who is this Harper or Hope in the note?”

Caden hung his head. “Her name is Harper Mallory. She was to have been his eighth victim. We arrived in time to save her and I shot him but he still escaped. We found what we thought was his body three days later and closed the case. The body we found matched the evidence in three of the murders and had a bullet wound in the right shoulder. We were so sure we had him.”

“Then how did this happen? Is it a copycat?” Paul asked.

Caden shook his head. “No. This guy is for real. He knows details we didn’t release to the public.”

“What details?” Paul asked. “The note didn’t say much.”

Caden stared at him. “The details weren’t in the note. This bastard’s M.O. is torture. The stab wounds in the chest are meant to cause terror but not death. The wound on her throat isn’t meant to kill, but to stop her from screaming. The cut is deep but doesn’t touch the arteries on either side. The loss of blood covers the size of the wound. The cause of death will be the slash of her femoral artery. Only a few people knew about that. We kept it out of the reports and never told the press.”

“We need to stop him before he kills again. Jake can set up a task force here. Dig out whatever information you have on the guy and find him. Check with the Feds and see if you can find anything. This case gets top priority until we catch him.” He stepped back as the medical examiner came forward to take care of the body.

Caden watched silently until she was loaded into the van and taken away. Jake joined him and when the van had turned the corner, Caden turned to his partner. “Let’s go back to the precinct and see what we can find in the old file. I want this animal’s balls on my wall. This time he won’t get away.” He turned to his captain. “I have to go warn Charlie Boone. If he left a body here, he’s going after Charlie next. He wants us both out of the way. He also doesn’t want us together on this.”

Jake had to ask, “What about Harper…Hope?”

“What about her?”

Jake cocked his head to one side. “Are you going to tell her?”

Caden growled. “What do I tell her? Should I tell her the bastard that almost killed her is back? Should we tell her she should watch her back in case he’s following her? Who the hell do I tell her to watch for, her neighbor, the banker, the stranger asking for directions?” Caden ran his fingers through his hair. “Hell, I don’t even know what this bastard looks like, remember?”

“You can’t keep her in the dark. She has the right to know he’s back, he’d said he knew where she was.”

“I know. I know she has to know, but she’s not completely over the attack, even after all this time. If I tell her he’s back, she’ll never be over it.”

Jake snorted. “I didn’t know you kept in touch with her after the case closed.”

Caden ran his fingers through his hair. “I wanted to see how she was doing. I haven’t seen her since that time but Charlie is watching over her. and she made it very clear at the time I wasn’t welcome to check up on her. She was a mess. She was terrified beyond reason for a long time. She couldn’t even go out her own front door after all this went down.” Caden put his sunglasses on. “I don’t want to bring it all back to center stage for her. I think it would destroy her this time.”

“She has the right to know,” Jake insisted.

“Yes and I’ll tell her. I hope she doesn’t slam the door in my face.”

Jake walked over to his car. “I’ll be at the office. I’ll run a check and see if I can find out where our boy has been between then and now. Maybe I’ll get a hit on what he’s been up to.”

“I’ll catch up with you later.”

“Break it to her gently,” Jake cautioned.

Caden watched as Jake drove away. This was one job he didn’t relish. He didn’t want to be the one to have to shatter her life, but he didn’t want anyone else to be the bearer of bad news either. He got back into his car and drove slowly down the street. He made a left turn and got on the highway. Whiskey Bend was about four hours away but he didn’t care Charlie and Harper needed to hear this news in person.

He pulled up to the police station around noon. The small office building seemed to fit in with the small-town look. The paint might be chipping on the outside of the building but the area surrounding the front door was pristine. Even the sidewalk was swept and appeared cared for and the windows were clean and shiny.

He got out of the car and walked up to the front door. He kicked the dirt off his shoes before he entered and he was glad he did when the older woman behind the desk looked over her glasses and stared at him. “Can I help you?”

“I need to see Charlie Boone.”

“Regarding what, may I ask?’ she grumbled under her breath.

“An old case.” Caden narrowed his eyes at her.

Just then, an office door across from the front desk opened and Charlie Boone walked out. He took one look at Caden and paled.

Caden straightened his stance and glared at the other man. “We need to talk.”

“Fucking hell boy, I was hoping I’d never have to look at your ugly face again. Not in this lifetime.”

“I don’t want to be here either old man.” He growled. He looked around the office. It was nice enough but it wasn’t what he thought of as a work zone. He was used to seeing pea green walls and more desks than necessary. His office in Chicago was over cramped and there was no room for spreading out. The more he looked around the more his frown began to disappear. “Maybe this should be a private conversation,” he suggested.

Charlie nodded, then walked over to the desk and handed the older woman behind it a bunch of papers. “Maybelle, you can file these and hold my calls for now ok?”

“You got it Charlie.” The old woman nodded.

Charlie turned and walked back to his office.

Caden followed and shut the door behind him. He watched with narrowed eyes as Charlie went behind his desk and sat down heavily.

He looked up at the younger man standing in front of him. “What the hell are you doing here?”

“He’s back. This time he’s looking to settle old scores and finally get to her. And he’s not particular about who he takes out to do that. He’s hunting you and me down too.”

“Fucking hell,” Charlie swore under his breath. Frowning, he glared at the other man. “Are you sure about this?”

“He left a body in Chicago early this morning,” Caden announced. Reaching into his pocket, he took his phone out, brought up the photo of the note and handed it over to the other man.

Charlie read the note then paled. He looked up at Caden and whispered, “He found her didn’t he? He’s right here in my town.”

“We need her to know her life is in danger. We owe her that much at least.”

Charlie shook his head. “She’s gonna be so pissed. She really didn’t want to give up her whole life to come here.”

“I know but until we found what we thought was his body we had no choice but to put her into hiding. This was the best we could do at the time,” he argued.

“I know that and I think she did too.” Charlie agreed. Turning to look out the window he said, “I think she’s done well here. She’s working part time but she’s also begun a new career.”

Caden frowned. “What is she doing?”

Charlie chuckled. “She’s writing books. She wrote the first one, sent it out, and got a small indie publisher. Her books are a little on the dark side but they’re very good.”

Caden shook his head. “Good for her. Does she seem happy here?”

Charlie shrugged. “She’s taking self-defense classes and got a trained dog she’s never far from but happy? I don’t know her all that well, so I really can’t say if she’s happy. She’s not one who mixes with people very well.”

“How do you know that?” Caden frowned.

“This is a small town, everybody thinks they know everybody’s else’s business. People talk.” Charlie shrugged. Pushing to his feet, he nodded, “But you’re right we do need to let her know about this. Trouble is she isn’t going to like it any more than I do.”