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Shit. Poor Pete. The shock of his confession must have registered on her face.
“Yeah. He started squealing with the first punch.” Dirk chuckled and Jenna recognized the laugh as the one she had heard in the bushes the night at the Cattleman’s Hotel. “Like he squealed to you about us.”
No wonder I heard two sets of footsteps. “Pete did not discuss you with me at all. You killed him for nothing.”
“And now it’s your turn.” Dirk waved the blade. “You know, if I slid this knife in just the right spot in your spine, you wouldn’t die but you’d be paralyzed. We could have so much fun and you would have to lie there and take it.”
Jenna needed to keep him talking and his attention on her. “You like hurting people, don’t you, and raping women—but why Helms?”
“Jenna, Jenna, Jenna.” He shook his dark head slowly. “You think because we own all this land we’re rich, but when we killed our daddy he left us a mountain of debt. We needed cash and picked rich, lonely people to befriend. We’d ask real nice for their PIN but if they refused we used a little more persuasion.” He rolled his wide shoulders. “When we don’t need money, we look for something younger, some entertainment to pass a long night.”
“So which one of you started torturing and raping women first?”
“You talk too much, but when Dean wakes up we’ll give you a very personal demonstration. You’d be surprised how long a feisty woman like you can survive. Men last maybe a week but even girls Sarah’s age fight until we tire of them.” He gave a deep, sinister chuckle and smacked his lips. “Sarah enjoyed it too much and we would have kept her for a long time but we needed to show you what would happen if you didn’t stop investigating us.” His lips turned down. “We thought we had an understanding.”
Astonished, she gaped at him. He actually looked sorry. “I thought we were friends.”
“Exactly, and friends don’t squeal on friends.” He waved the knife as if cutting her throat. “Now you have to die.”
Keep him talking and catch him off guard. “I didn’t discuss you with anyone. I told Kane you are my friends.”
She noticed him relax a tad and needed to deal with him before he noticed Dean’s demise. Getting off the mattress was a priority. The uneven surface was a disadvantage, but to do so would mean advancing naked on a lunatic with a knife. Attack was the only option and he would not be expecting it.
“It’s too late.” Dirk ran the tip of his rough thumb down the blade. “You’re here. You know we killed Pete and Sarah.” His lips curled into a satanic smile. “And I want to cut you and hear you scream.”
Trembling with fear, she gritted her teeth. I’m not going down without a fight. On her right, she caught sight of Dean’s discarded T-shirt, and taking a step backward, she snatched it and wrapped it around her left arm. Since training with Kane, she excelled at hand-to-hand combat, but in a confined space, she would be up against Dirk’s superior strength. Keeping eye contact, she shuffled to the edge of the mattress, took a deep breath, and lunged at him.
Surprise gave her time to grab his wrist and slam the palm of her right hand up under his nose. The blow designed to push the cartilage into the brain would be a death blow to most people, but Dirk was as strong as a bull. He shook her off as if she was an annoying fly and staggered back with his back to the mattress, spraying drops of blood from his shattered nose.
“Bitch!” He lifted the knife and ran at her.
In the open, she had room to move. She spun and kicked out, landing a solid chest blow. He let out a bellow, staggered back, tripping over the edge of the mattress, and fell into the shelves. Cans of beans toppled from the shelf, peppering his back, and rolled across the floor. She lunged for a spade leaning against the wall but not in time. One beefy arm locked around her chest, pinning her arms to her sides, and the cool edge of a blade pressed against her throat. He had caught her in the same move as in the bushes. A warm trickle of blood ran down her chest. She gasped in a breath and went limp, hoping her dead weight would unbalance him.
“Black Rock Falls County Sheriff’s Department.” Kane dropped into her line of vision, his Glock 22 aimed at Dirk’s head. “Drop the weapon.”
A shot shattered the silence and a hot sticky mess splashed over Jenna’s face. The hand holding the knife fell away and Kane moved in to drag her against his solid strength.
“It’s okay. I have you.” Kane’s soft voice filled her buzzing ears. “Rowley, check the body on the floor for life signs.”
“They’re both dead.” Rowley’s voice came through the confusion. “I’ll call the paramedics. Here, wrap her in blankets.”
Warmth surrounded her but shock set in and tremors shook her. She stared into Kane’s compassionate expression, wanting to tell him she was okay and they had not hurt her, but her mouth refused to form words. Leaning into him, she grasped handfuls of his jacket and allowed the tears to flow.
He’d found her.
Fifty-Eight
Kane sat beside the hospital bed and shook his head. “You’ll stay here until the doc
tors say it’s okay for you to leave.”
“I don’t need tests or a psych evaluation. I was slapped a few times and drugged, no big deal.” Jenna’s eyes flashed with anger. “Come on, you can see I’m fine. It’s been three days. How much longer can they keep me here? Can’t you see I’m going nuts and the food is awful?”
His gaze moved over her bruised cheek, split lip, and the three stitches in her neck, then he shook his head. “You’ll stay. Why do you think the DA banned me from visiting you before now? He wanted to make sure we are not in collusion. Not sure how that could happen with Rowley as a witness but, hey, we need evidence of a clean kill.”
“They think what? Oh my God. Two psychopaths kidnap me and they want proof of self-defense? Give me a break.”
He nodded in agreement. “I told them you took down Dean Daniels in self-defense and I shot Dirk before he slit your throat. You have the stitches to prove it and Rowley’s deposition. The DA wanted absolute proof of what happened. When we brought you in, the drug would still have been in your system. I found bottles of pills in the kitchen and a coffee cup with your prints. The evidence is with forensics now. Then there’s the brand of condoms that matched those used in Sarah’s murder and her pink scrunchie.” He sighed. “We have plenty of evidence, and the moment I told Stan Clough his aliens were the Daniels brothers in Halloween masks, he started talking. His statement backed up what you said Dirk told you. He said they had been killing for some years, and when he owned the other ranch, his pigs had eaten the bodies.” He rubbed his chin. “He will be charged for unlawful disposing of multiple bodies and will probably end up in a mental institution.”
