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“You don’t have to worry about him anymore. I guess you’re with the sheriff?” Alison gave a short laugh. “I guessed she would figure out who I was soon enough. I didn’t think I’d have to wait so long.”
“Yeah, she’s here. Why didn’t you call me to help you?”
“You wouldn’t understand. Men never do.” Alison spread her bloody hands. “And you’d want me to give myself up. It’s not going to happen, Jake.”
Jenna’s voice broke into the conversation. “I’m right here, let’s talk.”
“Sure, come on up, but leave Jake behind and don’t hold a gun on me either. I’m no threat to you.”
“Okay, but if you pick up your weapon, Kane has orders to shoot.” Jenna’s voice was as steady as
a rock. “Do you understand?”
“Yes, I understand.” Alison folded her arms over her chest in a nonchalant pose.
Kane opened his mic. “Keep her out in the open.”
“Roger that.” As Jenna weaved her way between the trees, Kane heard a sharp intake of breath. “I have eyes on the victim. She has cut his throat. Use reasonable force, Kane, if she goes for her weapon. I’ll keep my mic open. Rowley, watch my six but keep out of sight.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
Kane aimed his rifle at Alison. “I’m locked on target.”
He dropped into that place where his racing heart slowed and his breath came in an even flow. The calm he needed to make the shot, to kill, disable, or protect slipped over him and he waited.
Jenna moved through the trees, the pounding of water blocking out the sounds of the forest. She kept her attention fixed on Alison, waiting for her to dive for her weapon, but Alison had backed away from the pistol and stood perilously close to the edge of the falls. When the girl spoke, she could hardly hear her. She would need to get closer and trust that if Alison had a weapon hidden behind her back and threatened her, Kane would be fast enough to protect her. “Come closer, I can’t hear you.”
“No can do.” Alison raised her voice. “You see, I don’t trust anyone in law enforcement and you have a deputy pointing a gun at me.”
Jenna shouted at her over the noise. “You can trust me, and if Bobby-Joe hurt you as a child, then I guess you had good reason to get even with him.” She took in the almost blank expression on Alison’s face and, seeing no obvious threat, moved closer. “Let’s talk but put your hands where I can see them.”
“You’re not going to allow Kane to shoot me.” Alison held her hands out at her sides. “I’m unarmed.”
“You wanted to talk, so let’s cut to the chase. Why did you murder Bobby-Joe Brandon? Did he molest you as a child?”
“Molest is such a nice, clean word, isn’t it. Let me spell it out for you, Sheriff. He kidnapped me eight years ago, used me, then kept me in a cage under his bed. I was there for the pleasure of him and his friends. I watched him and his friends rape and murder innocent girls.” She gave Jenna a cold look. “Bobby-Joe was a vicious son of a bitch and he laughed when they screamed. They meant nothing to him.” She snorted. “If the girls died, they would say they ‘planted’ them at Craig’s Rock or under the floorboards at Old Corkey’s place.”
A shiver went down Jenna’s spine at the memory of the bleached white bones at Craig’s Rock. “Why didn’t you tell the sheriff?”
“I’m sure he was involved.” Alison gave a hysterical laugh. “He could have been one of the others, the ones in the masks, so I kept my mouth shut. As soon as I could, I killed him.” She smiled almost prettily. “What a surprise it was to see Amos Price in town. Soon after, I found out the others had returned to Black Rock Falls. It took some time to find them in the online chat rooms but I’m a patient woman.”
“Who are these men? Tell me and I’ll put them away for a very long time.”
“It’s too late. Amos Price, I murdered with nicotine sulfate. Ely Dorsey, the one in the motel, I skewered him through the ear. And good old Chris Jenkins, I stabbed him to death.” She gestured to Bobby-Joe’s corpse. “You can see how I made Bobby-Joe pay.” She swiped at her mouth as if rubbing away the distaste for the men. “I’ve left a diary in my house with every detail I can remember: names, dates, and the girls I witnessed them kill.”
Unable to grasp how cool and detached Alison appeared telling how she had murdered five men, Jenna swallowed the bile in her throat. She had to keep her talking and obtain as much information as possible while Alison was prepared to speak. “Did Stu Macgregor have anything to do with the pedophile ring? We know he went to jail for kidnapping Angelique Booval and she mentioned others were involved.”
“He was the procurer. When Bobby-Joe gave him an order, he picked up a girl. Macgregor didn’t join in during the time I was with Bobby-Joe. I guess he stopped kidnapping girls when he came out of jail. I read they chemically castrated him and that’s the only reason he’s not dead.” Alison opened her arms wide. “I disposed of the monsters who hurt me but the network is wider than Black Rock Falls. I made Bobby-Joe show me all his photographs and thumb drives but he will have a camera in the cellar filled with images of his latest victim. Did you find the girl? He will have her locked in his cage. I would have searched for her but I was a little preoccupied.”
Jenna stared at her in disbelief but pushed on. “Yes, Sandra is safe.”
“‘Safe?’ What a stupid word.” Alison snorted. “The memory of being raped never goes away but I guess you have some idea of what it’s like to have men holding you against your will, don’t you, Sheriff? Can you imagine being trapped in a filthy cabin and having men lining up to use you?”
A wave of understanding hit Jenna. Yes, she had wanted to kill the men who kidnapped and tried to rape her. She held no remorse for either of them but killing in self-defense was different. She had defended herself and not hunted them down to seek revenge. Cold realization marched a path down her spine. Before her stood a cold-blooded killer and she was trying to manipulate her. On the edge of falling into a debilitating flashback, her vision blurred then Kane’s reassuring voice came in her ear.
“Jenna, she is playing for sympathy, using your experiences against you. Don’t let her get in your head.”
The flashback receded and she tapped her mic twice to signal she was okay. The next moment, Rowley moved in her periphery. What the hell is he doing?
