“It looks like it.” Hugh looked at the hole in the wall then back at the trunk before continuing. “Do you suppose those are the killers or the last victims?”
“They’re the killers.” Everyone looked at Nick. “She told me. Her and the others, they’re the last of them, and they…they took over a body to come in and take care of the killers like this. They didn’t want to be brought out until this was found. She said that there are too many woman and men here that need to be taken home. She wants their families to know where they are.”
Ray had seen this before. A box of jewelry had been found and the victims, most of them anyway, had wanted their things to be buried because their bodies were long gone. Ray hoped that this would bring peace to the people represented in this box, and to the families that had lost them. But there were so many, he had a feeling that some of them, a great deal of them, would find little to no peace in this.
The police were called in and they were as pissed as he’d thought they’d be when he led them up to the next floor. But as soon as they saw what they’d uncovered, they changed their tunes pretty fast. After a bit, Ray called the Feds. His buddies down at the house would be better equipped at taking care of this than these men appeared to be able to. Within the hour, the police had been asked to stand down, and Ray and his men were taken to a remote place to be spoken to.
Hugh was taken in first, and Ray had a moment of pure pleasure when he heard the man shouting. That man could make a grown soldier sob for his mommy. Hugh was a good man, kindhearted and fun, but he hated what he called suits…and stupid suits more. He was in and out in less than five minutes.
Landon was next, a more laid back man than anyone he’d ever met. He rarely got his feathers ruffled, never argued much, and dated women like it was his mission in life to see them all. Landon could also be unforgiving, hard, and could argue you until you simply gave up rather than continue on with it. He was a wonder all himself. His stay in the little room was slightly longer than Hugh’s.
Steele went in next. Ray worried about the boy. He wasn’t enjoying his new mate like he thought he should, and wondered if the two of them would be able to come to some sort of understanding. He’d heard them arguing the other morning and had been surprised at the way Steele had treated her, much like he had figured his own parents had treated him. He’d not spoken to him about it as yet, but would if this kept up. The girl deserved more than this. Steele was in the room for a little over an hour and came out smiling. The boy had learned to play people well. Not as well as his father had, but he was young yet.
He was nothing like the bastard other than his ability to read people. While Dr. Bennett had been robust and slightly overweight, his son was tall, handsome, and reserved. Bennett senior had ruled with an iron fist and a hard will. Steele would let a person try things their own way for a while before he would suggest how to do it differently. And his way was one-hundred percent right every time. But Steele, like his father before him, had a secret. And Ray, even after all these years, had never figured it out.
As soon as Mitch was finished with his turn, Ray was asked to come in. As they readied their questions for him, he thought of the young man who had just left. Mitch Riley was a great deal like Steele’s mate. His parents had left him at a neighbor’s house to go to the store, and after three days the neighbors had finally called the police to have them come and get him. Mitch spent the first fifteen years of his life being assigned to one bad household after the next until, at the age of sixteen, he ran off. It was another two years before Ray found him living in a large freezer box with nothing more than a blanket and a few cans of food. He’d also been beaten to shit.
Mitch rarely talked to the rest of them and less to him. But he did talk for long whiles with the senior Miss Aster. And it seemed that he’d had a long talk with Kari yesterday as well. He wondered if either of them was aware of how much they needed each other.
“When you were told not to go to that floor, did you go out of spite or did someone tell you to go?” He looked at Thomas Stile and smiled. “I have to ask you. The police are claiming that you put that shit up there to make them look bad.”
“I think they did that all on their own.” Both men with Thomas laughed. “We were led up there, or Nick was. She said she didn’t want to leave just yet and we helped her along.”