I threw my arms up in annoyance, “That’s what you don’t get. I got removed from the case. It consumed me and was oh so personal. I couldn’t be impartial. I thought everyone was guilty. If you weren’t with me, you were against me,” I talked loudly and fast, letting it out. She didn’t say anything, letting me talk. “The case went cold shortly after I was taken off of it. We couldn’t catch the guy. There wasn’t enough evidence to pin on someone. He was good and covered his tracks well, throwing us nuggets to lead us in every which direction but in the right direction.”
She continued to kneel on the bed waiting for me to continue. The emotions were exhausting, and I went to her, pulling her towards me where I planted a hard kiss on her.
Chapter Thirty
Natalie
The kiss was hard and passionate. All the emotions poured into it. The pieces of what Duke had been hiding started to fall into place as he went on.
When the kiss broke, I asked, “You never stopped working on the case, huh?” I asked.
“I couldn’t. I needed to bring justice for Shonna.”
I nodded. I understood his need to know the truth. Even though I didn’t have the same skeletons in my closet; I could see how something like this could haunt him forever.
“When I got removed from the case, I felt like I failed Shonna and all the women before her.” He fell to his knees beside the bed again, looking up at me. Begging me with his eyes to understand. “I kept working on it. I recently got a huge tip, and I’m about to bring the guy down, but when you found those pictures and made the assumption about me, I couldn’t let you be a loose end, and I couldn’t risk this guy knowing I was on to him again. That’s what would have happened if you’d gone to the police. It would have blown this up, and he’d have come after you. I couldn’t let that happen.” His head bent down, and slowly I wound my fingers in his hair letting him know that it was okay. I finally was beginning to understand why he took me. I’m not sure I understood why he kept me captive like a worthless rat in a trap, but at least I could see the why.
“Will you show me?” I asked, and when he looked up at me, I could see the shame, the pain, the guilt, the things that had haunted him forever.
He shook his head no. “You already know too much, Natalie.” His arms gripped my wrists, firmly pinning them to the bed, “You need to understand the danger you’re in, and the more you know, the more at risk you are.”
“At least tell me what you’re going to do.”
“I’m going to go get the guy myself. Make him pay for what’s he done,” Duke snapped.
“No!” I exclaimed, my hands coming to my mouth. “You could get hurt. I couldn’t take that.”
“Why? Why Natalie?” he asked standing in front of me.
“Because...” I started and paused, looking into his eyes intensely. The thought of losing him now after all this was too much for me. “Because I love you, Duke. I belong to you now.”
“I love you too.” He ran his fingers along my cheek, and I leaned into them. “Please forgive me for what I’m about to do.” I grabbed for his hand as it left my face, but he leaned down to collect his clothes from the floor where they had been thrown when we came back to his bedroom. He backed away from me, and I was frozen on the bed. I wanted to run at him, claw at him, make him stop, but I couldn’t move. The tears rolled freely down my cheeks, and for once I did nothing to hide them, and when the door clicked softly and the lock turned into place, I screamed. “No! You can’t leave me here!”
The moonlight cast eerie shadows across the ground outside Duke’s window as I watched him speed away from me.
This time my escape was to save Duke and not myself. Leaving me in his room left me with a plethora of options to get out. I threw on my clothing and searched for something to assist me. Rummaging through the bathroom I came across a toenail clipper and the attached file. It could work if a bed spring could work. A nail file should definitely work.
The door unlatched and I ran for the stairs. Again, taking them two at a time, not even bothering to see the haunting basement door, I sprang to the office door needing to know where Duke was going.
“Fuck!” The door was locked. Sprinting for the stairs, I ran back toward Duke’s room where the nail file was laying on the floor where I had dropped it after releasing the lock on the bedroom door.
I snatched it up and made for the office. I felt nothing but relief when the lock unlatched. I was getting good at picking locks. Who would have thought?
The room made me uneasy, like there were a lot of secrets on these walls, and before I searched for anything that might indicate what Duke had planned, I ran my fingertips along the pictures hanging on the wall, giving a moment to each of the tortured women hanging there.
The desk seemed like the best place to search first, and with any luck I’d find a clue. The drawers were locked, so I searched the top first. The computer was password protected, which I knew from the nights we’d spent together before I knew what was happening, but there on a pad of paper next to the laptop with a scribble of writing. I could hardly make it out, but it looked like it said the Rusty Tap.
I knew that place. It was on the other side of town, right on the outskirts. Rumor had it that it was a sketchy place to go.
Hoping my luck would continue, I made my way outside to evaluate my options. My eyes fell upon the garage, and with a quick peek inside, I saw there was another vehicle there. Now I only needed the keys.
Chapter Thirty-One
Duke
At precisely, eleven o’clock, Morton took the seat across from me at the corner table. I pushed the folder I had across the table. He grabbed it and scanned the contents. There were two pictures held within the folder. One of Tara and one of the ring.
Knowing his previous patterns, he’d take Tara to his lair to do the deed, and that’s where I’d make my move.
Suddenly the door to the bar opened, and there stood Natalie. Morton noticed my sudden shock and disbelief and looked over his shoulder. When he turned to me, I nodded my head to the left slightly to indicate to Natalie to sit at the bar. For once she followed directions.
The exchange didn’t go unnoticed by Morton, “Who’s that?”
“My girl.”
“Then who’s this?” My attention drew away from Natalie to Morton’s question with the picture of Tara staring up at us.
“A complication,” I replied.
“Ah. I see you don’t want one of these girls to know about the other, huh?” He gave a knowing smile like he had it all figured out.
“Something like that,” I confirmed. “Are we good here?”
“As long as the payment is delivered as we discussed. Then we’re good.”
I gave a crude nod and backed my chair away from the table, leaving Morton in my wake as I stalked toward Natalie.
“What the fuck are you doing here?” I asked her, leaning in to make it seem like we were getting intimate. “Make it look like I said something funny,” I ordered.
She laughed out loud and turned toward me, our lips only inches apart. “I came for you. You don’t need to do this.”
Pride smothered my heart. She came for me. To protect me. Even as misguided and dangerous as it was, I couldn’t be prouder of my gal and the bravery she’d shown that tonight. “How the fuck did you even get out of the house much less find me?” I demanded, but before she could answer, I grabbed her arm and tugged her from the stool. “We need to get out of here.” I forced her from the room to outside where I could relax slightly once that we were out of Morton’s sight.