So Alone, page 17
“Turk, protect!” she commanded again.
Too late. A Doberman leapt at her, mouth open wide, forelimbs extended.
She brought her handgun around, but she knew she wouldn’t make it in time. She steeled herself for the blow, but it never came. Instead, Turk launched himself into the Doberman’s shoulder, much the way he did with Misty at the junkyard. The Doberman went sprawling, and Turk turned around, teeth bared, ears flat and snarling, his back to Faith and his fangs toward whoever approached.
The dogs were taken aback by this a moment, and Turk was able to easily fend off the occasional lunges made by one or two animals. After a moment, though, the pack realized that there were only two enemies and began to converge again, tightening the noose.
Turk leaped right and left, intercepting every dog that came too close to Faith, moving with a grace and power that far outstripped the other dogs.
But not to the tune of twenty-three to two. She had bought them a few extra minutes, but time was running out.
The dogs rushed them at once. She lifted her handgun and shouted.
And then a sheriff’s department cruiser and three animal control vans came flying over the hill, skidding to a stop in front of the hole in the fence. A dozen officers came pouring from the vans and sprinted toward the dogs. The pack split, half the dogs going to deal with the new threat, the other half resuming the attack on Turk and Faith.
Faith watched as the animal control officers sprayed something at the dogs that brought them to the ground, yelping and rubbing their eyes in the dirt. A few more pack members left to assist their comrades, but there were still five who remained with Turk and Faith.
They prepared to leap, and Michael jumped in front of Faith and Turk and sprayed all five of the other dogs with a bottle. Faith caught a hint of the acrid smell and guessed that was why the dogs immediately dropped to the floor and rolled around, yelping.
Michael looked at Turk, who wagged his tail and licked his hand in gratitude. Michael turned to Faith and said, “You owe me.”
She grinned and said, “You owe me for being right again.”
“What part of wait for us don’t you understand?” he asked, frowning. “You could have gotten killed.”
“Would you have watched a victim die?”
He sighed deeply and didn’t respond. He did chuckle, though, and she saw a smile when he looked away and waved at Tom.
The Deputy Sheriff was dragging a very distraught Jay Chung from a stand of trees. Jay was whining and blubbering, repeating over and over, “My dogs! What about my dogs?”
Out of the corner of her eye, Faith caught movement and turned to see Arthur Warhol a few hundred feet away being tended to by a few other deputies. She turned back to Jay, who pouted and whined about his dogs, not even glancing Faith’s way as Tom led him to the waiting cruiser.
“You all right?” Michael asked Faith.
“Sure,” she said. “Right as rain.”
CHAPTER TWENTY ONE
“You sure about this, Faith?”
Faith nodded. “I’m sure. Vanheusen might be a mad scientist, but he’s a well-meaning mad scientist. He gave you the neutralizing agent, didn’t he?”
David smiled wryly. “I guess you could say that.”
The “neutralizing agent” turned out to be white wine vinegar. Pheromones were essentially scent packets. Once the scent wore off, the pheromones no longer worked. Vinegar, as it turned out, was a potent enough smell to override every other scent.
“Besides, the dogs need a place to go, and I don’t want to put them into a shelter. I don’t… I don’t really want them to go back to their original owners either.”
At Faith’s recommendation, the judge had agreed to overlook the illegal lab out of gratitude for his assistance in apprehending the Dogwalker, the name the press had given to Jay.
As the flight attendant went through the safety presentation, Michael replied, “I suppose Vanheusen is all right. He’s a bit of a spazz, but that’s chemists for you. He’ll give the dogs a good home.”
“I think so,” she agreed.
“So what’s next for you when you get back home?” he asked.
Faith weighed whether or not to tell Michael the truth. After a moment, she simply said, “I plan on taking a few days to relax before the Boss gives me another headache to deal with.”
Michael chuckled. “Good luck with that. The Boss can smell happiness from a mile away and destroy it from two miles. I swear he was born to be a pain in our ass.”
Faith smiled through the stab of guilt in her chest. She had just lied to Michael for the second time in as many days. She hated that.
***
Ellie was walking back to her sister’s place from a coffee shop. She looked preoccupied, her cherubic face furrowed with lines as she contemplated the stresses of her life. She didn’t notice Faith calling her until the agent stepped in front of her.
She shrieked, jumping backwards. She stared at Faith in shock, one hand on her chest. “Faith?”
“Hi, Ellie,” Faith replied. “Can we talk?”
Ellie blinked and recoiled slightly. “Faith, what are you doing here?”
“I came to talk to you,” she said. “Can I? You can pick the place.”
Ellie recoiled even further and said, "And if I say no?"
Faith met her eyes and said nothing. Ellie pales slightly and sighed. “Fine. My sister won’t be home for a couple of hours. We’ll talk at the house.” She looked around. “Where’s your dog?”
“Turk’s at home,” Faith said. “It’s just you and me.”
Ellie cast her a wary glance, which Faith returned with a warm smile. Ellie returned a brief smile of her own, then led Faith down the street. Faith didn't tell Ellie that she already knew exactly where Ellie was staying.
As soon as they were inside the house, Ellie crossed her arms and said,“Do I get to know why this couldn’t wait until I came home? You’ll have to forgive me, Faith, but it seems a little suspicious that we don’t talk for months and then you follow me to Oklahoma City. I know you don’t like me, but we could have had an adult conversation about that instead of—” she gestured around, “—whatever this is.”
“This is an adult conversation,” Faith said calmly. “You’re going to tell me what’s really going on between you and Michael.”
Ellie laughed, a single, snorting scoff. She rolled her eyes and threw her arms up in exasperation. “Of course,” she said. “That makes sense.”
She looked at Faith contemptuously and put a hand on her hips. “So what?” she asked, “Are you upset because Michael fell in love with me? You want him back, and he’s not looking, is that it.”
This time, Faith rolled her eyes. “No, Ellie, I’m not jealous. I’m concerned.”
“Well, I don’t know what to tell you,” Ellie said. “Michael tells me that he loves me and doesn’t want to be with you anymore. If he’s telling you something different, then you’ll have to take that up with him. I know I will.”
“I’m not trying to sleep with Michael,” Faith insisted. “I’m trying to figure out what your game is with him.”
“My game?” Ellie said incredulously. “Faith, you are utterly delusional. You’re insane! Oh my God! There’s no game, Faith. I’m in love with Michael. He’s the man I want to spend my life with. You had him, you lost him, now he’s with me. Deal with it!”
"For the last time," Faith said, "I'm not jealous. I'm concerned. You say you love him, but you stiffen every time he touches you. You say you want to spend the rest of your life with him, but it takes you almost a year after meeting Michael to finalize your divorce, during which time you're in regular contact with your ex-husband."
“Oh, for God’s sake, Faith!” Ellie said. “I swear to God, you hear hoofbeats and think a thief holding a boombox playing the theme to an old Western show as a distraction while his buddies rob a bank. Faith, I was married to Franklin for ten years, all right? Ten years. It’s not so easy to just walk away from that. I wasn’t cringing when Michael touched me, but he’s the second man to have ever touched me, and after being certain that I would spend forever with Frank, it was an adjustment for me, a lot more than it was for Michael.
“And yet, I’ve made that adjustment. I’ve divorced Frank and moved in with Michael. I’m wearing Michael’s goddamned ring!”
She held up the gold circlet with a sizable diamond on her left hand’s ring finger. “I moved on, Faith!” she finished. “Time for you to do the same!”
But Faith wasn’t listening anymore. Something Ellie had said had fired every alarm in her head.
“You said his name was Franklin?”
Ellie blinked, “What?”
“Your ex-husband,” Faith repeated sternly, “What did you say his name was?”
Ellie blinked and took a step backwards. “Franklin. Franklin West.”
The world spun around Faith. She took a step backward and sat slowly, coming to rest on her backside on the concrete.
Ellie mouthed Faith’s name, but Faith didn’t hear her. She didn’t hear anything over the pounding in her chest.
Oh God.
That explained how he knew. That explained how he knew about David and Michael and Gordon. That explained how he managed to stay one step ahead of her all the time. That explained how he stayed one step ahead of everyone. He was getting firsthand information straight from the only agent who had any chance of stopping him.
She had been seeing the Copycat Killer in his office every week for the past year, and he had been learning everything there was to know about her, everything there was to know about everyone she loved.
And she had been fooled blind.
“Faith?” Ellie’s voice cut through the fog. “Faith, are you all right? Do you need me to call for help?”
Faith blinked and focused her vision on Ellie. Ellie stood a few feet away, looking uncertainly at Faith, but with genuine concern. “What’s going on? Are you having an attack of some kind?”
Faith stood. Ellie backed up warily and Faith said, “I’m sorry, Ellie. I made a mistake.”
Ellie blinked in surprise and confusion. “Well, that’s… I mean, it’s okay. You don’t need to be all… um…”
Her voice trailed off as Faith turned and walked away. The fog threatened at the corners of her psyche again, and she forced herself to go through the motions of calling a rideshare to the airport and booking a return flight to Philadelphia.
Images flashed in her mind of Doctor West smiling at her over his glasses. Doctor West laughing as she related an anecdote from a case. Doctor West listening intently as she shared her theories on the Copycat Killer’s motives and likely next kills. Doctor West asking her who was assigned to the Copycat Killer case now and if the Boss was letting her consult.
Doctor West advising her to let the case go, that it was bad for her mental health to continue looking for the Copycat Killer. For him. Doctor West laughing to himself as he wrote her a note over Gordon Clark’s murdered corpse.
Doctor West listening while she described to him the pain and hopelessness she felt under the original Donkey Killer’s knife.
Gradually, the fog receded, replaced by cold anger.
He would pay. So help her God, if it was the last thing she ever did, she would find Franklin West and make him pay. For taking away two years of her life. For driving a wedge between her and David and another between her and Michael. For keeping Ellie on a string for no other reason than to see how it would affect Faith’s friendship.
For murdering a man, she admired and respected as a friend and mentor. For Gordon.
“I’m coming for you, asshole.”
EPILOGUE
It was too bad. He had grown to like being a psychologist. Not as much as he enjoyed his other profession, and Faith, of course, was by far his most interesting patient, but he enjoyed the opportunity that psychology provided to examine the depths of human nature. It truly was fascinating what people would reveal to a complete stranger that they would keep from everyone they loved.
Oh well. All things came to an end eventually. He hadn’t anticipated this ending anytime soon. He had actually hoped he could continue on as a psychologist after Faith Bold was dealt with. He found the mental war far more satisfying even than the killing.
Maybe he could alter his appearance and practice somewhere else. It was something to consider.
But for now, he had a job to do.
He carefully removed each book from its place on the shelf and wiped it thoroughly. He figured he had three to eight hours, depending on whether Faith came here alone or brought the FBI with her. That was more than enough time to make sure he cleaned his prints and DNA off of everything.
He thought that Faith would immediately begin hunting for him when she returned. It never occurred to him that she would go talk to Ellie. She had no reason to suspect Ellie of anything other than infidelity to Michael, and he didn’t think that would matter enough to her.
Then again, Faith’s mind worked in wondrous ways. She would find threads that seemed to make no sense to anyone, even her, and pick at them until she unraveled the most convoluted mysteries. Perhaps her subconscious mind knew that Ellie held the key to the answers she sought and so gave her conscious mind a reason to go talk to her even though logic dictated it was frivolous.
He wondered if he should have killed Ellie. He dismissed the idea before believing such an act would draw suspicion toward him. He still believed it. When an ex-wife died, the first place everyone looked was the ex-husband, and the last thing he needed was people looking at him.
People would be looking at him now. He frowned and straightened, the cleaning momentarily forgotten.
If Faith did bring her concerns to the field office, then people would be looking for him. If they were looking for him, then he would be forced into a corner. He could evade the FBI for a while, but if he remained in Philadelphia long enough, they would find him eventually. It would be incredibly difficult to get to Faith if she brought the Bureau in, as well. Going after her might even be what they expect and play directly into their hands.
If, on the other hand, she took matters into her own hands, then possibly he could get to her before she got to him. There was no way of knowing what she would do, though.
There was one thing he could do, but it would only work if Faith came here by herself first, before alerting the FBI. If she did come here first, then he believed wholeheartedly that this tactic would work to keep her from bringing her superiors in.
It was a gamble, but he had gambled before and come out on top.
He picked up his notepad from his desk and a pen and wrote. When he was finished, he tore the sheet off of his notepad and set it carefully on the already sanitized portion of the desk.
He smiled and nodded contentedly. Faith could simply ignore the note, but he was willing to bet she wouldn’t. He was willing to bet her pride and anger would make her want him all to herself.
And if she did call the Bureau in, well, then she would learn what happened when you cornered a wolf.
Or a donkey.
He laughed aloud and resumed cleaning, taking his time and ensuring that when he left, the only sign of him that would remain was his letter to Faith.
NOW AVAILABLE!
SO FORGOTTEN
(A Faith Bold Mystery—Book 8)
When victims of a new serial killer are found hidden underground in abandoned storm shelters and silos across the rural Midwest, FBI Special Agent Faith Bold knows that her only hope of finding the next one in time is with her K9 German Shepherd, Turk. But this killer may just have a trap waiting, and be one step ahead….
“A masterpiece of thriller and mystery.”
—Books and Movie Reviews, Roberto Mattos (re Once Gone)
SO FORGOTTEN is Book #8 in a long-anticipated new series by #1 bestseller and USA Today bestselling author Blake Pierce, whose bestseller Once Gone (a free download) has received over 7,000 five star ratings and reviews.
FBI Special Agent Faith Bold doesn’t believe she can ever return to the force after the trauma she’s been through. Suffering from past demons, she feels unfit for duty and content to retire—until Turk walks into her life.
Turk, a former Marine Corps dog, wounded in battle, suffers from his own demons. But he never lets it show as he gives everything to Faith to get her back on her feet.
Each are slow to warm up to each other, but when they do, they are inseparable. Each is equally determined to hunt down the demons chasing them, whatever the cost, and to watch each other’s backs—even at the risk of their own life.
A page-turning and harrowing crime thriller featuring a brilliant and tortured FBI agent, the Faith Bold series is a riveting mystery, packed with non-stop action, suspense, twists and turns, revelations, and driven by a breakneck pace that will keep you flipping pages late into the night. Fans of Rachel Caine, Teresa Driscoll and Robert Dugoni are sure to fall in love.
Future books in the series are now also available.
“An edge of your seat thriller in a new series that keeps you turning pages! ...So many twists, turns and red herrings… I can't wait to see what happens next.”
—Reader review (Her Last Wish)
“A strong, complex story about two FBI agents trying to stop a serial killer. If you want an author to capture your attention and have you guessing, yet trying to put the pieces together, Pierce is your author!”
—Reader review (Her Last Wish)
“A typical Blake Pierce twisting, turning, roller coaster ride suspense thriller. Will have you turning the pages to the last sentence of the last chapter!!!”
—Reader review (City of Prey)
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