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Foam and feathers litter the floor after each piece of furniture has been dissected.
“He isn’t smarter than we are, so let’s think about this for a minute.”
I sit on the living room floor so I can get a look at my surroundings from a different angle. It’s several minutes before I notice multiple dents and scrapes on the ceiling above the top of the built-in bookcase. Definitely looks as though something has been going on there.
I stand on a dining room chair and run my hand over the top that’s hidden by the wide decorative dentil molding. “Got something.”
“He’s hiding something good up here,” my dad says.
Stacks of money is not what we discover. “Looks like a coin presentation box. And it’s locked.”
“People hide things they want to protect from others. Rare coins can be worth a ton. It would be a good way of ensuring there was no money trail if he traded with the right people.” My dad is right. There’s no telling how many millions this little wooden container could hold.
I inspect the bolt on the box. “This is going to require a tiny pick.”
I open Bleu’s paraphernalia collection for a second time and choose the smallest tool.
“Bleu’s little kit is coming in handy tonight. I’m glad she had the foresight to send it with you.”
“Aye. My wife’s a clever one.”
I push the tip of the tool into the lock’s hole and pop my second lock of the night. “Got it.”
I open the box but rare coins worth millions aren’t what we find. A pair of women’s diamond stud earrings. A child’s ring with a green stone in the center. A small golden locket. There’s at least a dozen more items that have absolutely no value.
Why would he lock these worthless things in a box and hide them? Only the diamond earrings can possibly be of value.
My eyes are drawn to the necklace so I take it from the box. I hold it by the chain, the golden locket dangling back and forth. I recognize it.
“CEB.” Cara Elizabeth Breckenridge.
Dad takes the necklace with his trembling hand. “My sweet Cara.”
This is my sister’s. She never took it off but it was missing from her neck when we found her smothered body. Only her killer would have this.
Dad closes his fist around it and brings it to his chest. “My own Fellowship brother killed my daughter.”
The epiphany of what this collection of items is nearly knocks the breath from my chest. “These are his trophies. Taken from people he’s killed.”
Which would make him a serial killer living among people who taught him how to kill and get away with it.” It couldn’t be more perfect for him.
I look at the tiny ring with the green stone. “Emerald is Bleu’s birthstone. I think this could be hers.”
My father inspects the diamond earrings. “I gave these to Amanda.”
There’s no doubt in my mind. Todd Cockburn murdered my sister, Bleu’s mother, and attempted to kill Bleu when she was seven. They aren’t his only victims judging by the contents of this box.
Todd Cockburn is the worst kind of monster. He kills for sport. Not necessity.
* * *
It’s after midnight when I arrive home. Bleu’s already asleep. She said she’d wait up for me but it looks as though her body had other plans.
I turn on the lamp and lower myself so I’m squatting beside Bleu. I nudge her shoulder gently. “Wake up, Bonny.” I kiss her temple. “Wake up for me.”
She finally stirs. “Sorry I fell asleep. I stayed up as long as I could.”
“It’s okay. I hate to wake you but I need you to take a look at something.”
“Now?”
“Aye. It’s important.”
She rises to sit and stretches. “What is it?”
“That’s what I need you to tell me.”
She swings her legs to the side of the bed and slides off the edge. She presses her hand to her lower back as she walks to the bathroom. She has developed the pregnant sway. “I gotta pee first.”
Of course she does.
“Dad’s here so put on your robe.”
Bleu has brushed her hair and pulled it into a ponytail when she comes into the living room. Her robe barely meets over her pregnant abdomen but she’s growing fast these days. Give it a few weeks and it won’t.
“Sorry to get you out of bed at this hour, Bleu.”
I place the wooden box on the cocktail table in front of her. “We have a suspicion about what this is but you’re more experienced in this department.”
She cocks her head. “Sounds intriguing. I’m going to assume there aren’t coins inside.”
“We found this in Todd Cockburn’s house. It was hidden and locked.” I open the box. “Do you recognize any of these contents?”
She immediately reaches for the emerald ring. She takes a close look and holds out her hand. She slips it onto her middle finger but it stops at her second knuckle. “This is my birthstone ring. My mother gave it to me for my seventh birthday.”
She stares at the ring for a moment before looking at the rest of the collection. She removes the diamond stud earrings next and studies them intently. “My mother’s ears were pierced twice. She wore diamonds like these in the second hole. She never took them out but there was no mention of them in her autopsy report. I assumed they’d been stolen by someone who handled her body.”
I take the child’s necklace from the box. “This is my sister’s locket, engraved with her initials. It went missing the night she was murdered.”
“These are probably trophies from kills.”
“What does he do with them?”
“Killers typically take them as a show of accomplishment. For him, it’s a souvenir to extend the fantasy. He needs something to get him through his downtime until he can kill again. He’s using these as a way to relive the murders over and over.” That means he takes these items out often to look at them. That would explain all the marks and dents on the ceiling. He was excited and careless when removing and replacing the box.
“Would it be a fair assumption to say that Todd Cockburn is a serial killer?”
“It’s very likely. There must be three separate murders with a period of time between to be classified as serial. The circumstances should indicate that he felt a sense of dominance over the victim.”
“Such as smothering a child with a pillow or stuffed animal.”
“Exactly.”
I hold up the specimen I took from Todd’s toothbrush. “Are you sure you want to know?”
In light of this new information, I’m not sure Bleu needs to hear that he’s her biological father. “You don’t have to find out.”
“Yes I do.”
“Harry raised you. He was your father.”
“I want the truth.” But at what price? Can she handle learning that she’s his daughter?
“You’ve believed all these years that your biological father was dead. What will you accomplish by finding out Todd fathered you?”
“Nothing but the truth. Clear and simple,” she says.
I can’t leave him unleashed. He’s too dangerous. “We’ll need to contain him immediately so he can’t kill again.”
“I want to know the paternity results before we do anything with him.” We aren’t doing anything with him. I am.
“Why do that to yourself?”
“Because I want to know if I’m killing my biological father.”
This is the part I’ve been dreading since swearing that oath to my father-in-law. I promised Harry that I wouldn’t allow Bonny to kill. I gave him my word because I believed it was the right decision, and I still do. My sweet Bonny Bleu will never know the darkness that accompanies cold-blooded murder.
Chapter Seventeen
Bleu Breckenridge
Sin kisses the side of my face and nuzzles his scruff against my neck. “Wake up, sleepyhead.”
“Mmm … no. I don’t want to.”
“Yes. We have an appointment with Ani a
t ten o’clock to look at houses. We’ll be late if you don’t get up now.”
“What are you talking about? We didn’t have an appointment when we went to bed last night.”
“I called her to set up something for next week and she told me her client for today had canceled.”
How convenient. I wonder if Sin had anything to do with that. “I know what you’re doing, and I love you for it, but I’m not sure I have the right mindset for looking at houses today.”
“You aren’t sitting around for the next three days fixating on the results of that paternity test.”
I’m not planning to be fixated but I’m not sure I can help being distracted by it. “House shopping probably isn’t the wisest thing to do during these three days.”
“You’re a week away from the halfway point of the pregnancy. If you deliver early like the doctor expects, then you’re already beyond midway. We can’t keep waiting so get your arse up. We’re doing this today.”
I groan loudly as I swing my legs over the side of the bed. “You’re such a bully sometimes.”
“Dear wife, I’m no such thing. I would be far too afraid to bully you.”
Has he forgotten he has a job? “What are you doing about work?”
“I have several cases going to court next week but none the next few days.”
I’m not going to have the energy for this. But Sin is right. We need a house. “How many are we looking at?”
“Your top three choices from the options Ani is sending over plus the Hameldon estate by my parents.”
I already know which is my favorite. “I want to see the Hameldon estate first.”
“Anything you want, Bonny.”
