“He didn’t hear me. I had a gun, but I set it on the counter and pulled a knife from the block.”
His words were dusty, as if they had waited a long time to come out. He examined his palm, rubbing his fingers against the surface of it. He dropped his hands and met my eyes.
“I knew Scott was gone. I’d been watching the house. And it—it sounds so wrong, but I was mad when I saw Scott leave. I didn’t understand why he could be let go, but Gabe hadn’t. I . . .” He paused and took a deep breath. “I had gloves on. I crouched behind him and reached around and stabbed him as hard as I could, in the gut.” He frowned. “The knife was long. And sharp. He fell back and couldn’t move. He tried. He tried to sit up, to roll over, but he couldn’t.”
I stayed silent, and I could picture it. Everything he was saying. The look that would have come over John’s face. The pain that wound would have caused. But had he appreciated it? Had he looked at Brooke, dead beside him, and felt that he deserved that fate?
Robert gave a sad smile. “He recognized me. He knew why I was there. And he couldn’t move, but he could talk. I sat at the table, and for fifteen minutes, I watched him die.”
Three loud raps sounded on the window of the front door and caused us both to flinch. Robert stood and stepped into the hall. I watched as he looked down the length of it, toward the front door. I knew what he was looking at. My front door was modern, three tall rectangles of glass that eliminated the need for a peephole.
“Whoever it is can see you,” I said. “It’s dark outside, light in here.” The knife was in front of me. If I stretched forward, I could pluck it off the edge of the desk. I kept my hands in my lap.
He glanced back at me. “It’s the police.”
CHAPTER 41
I didn’t have a chance to process the announcement before Robert strode down the hall and out of sight. I stood to follow and heard the front door swing open.
“Detective Saxe,” Robert said warmly, and the man deserved an acting award.
I stepped into the hall and moved slowly toward the front door, wondering why the detective was here. Earlier, I’d been concerned about being arrested for my failure to report John’s premeditations toward Brooke. Now, with his BH Killer label in place, did any of that really matter?
Another possibility entered the fray. Detective Saxe could have the same opinion that Robert had held—that I’d known the BH Killer’s identity this entire time. My stomach turned.
“Good evening, Mr. Kavin.” The detective stood on the front porch and eyed me as I came to a stop beside Robert. “Dr. Moore.”
I cleared my throat. “Hi. Come on in.”
Robert moved to the side and the detective entered, his badge glinting from his hip. I gestured them into the study and flipped on a lamp beside the chair.
“So, you’re both here.” The detective looked at each of us. “Again. Is this a thing, or do you guys just really love talking about dead people?”
I rubbed my forehead and wished I had eaten the spaghetti back at the office. I felt light-headed from lack of food, and I needed every bit of my limited brainpower right now. “We saw the news. I’m surprised you aren’t at the scene.”
“I was, but only because it was originally my scene. The task force and feds have taken it over now. Detectives are headed to Scott Harden’s house, but I thought I’d swing by here first. I tried to call, but you didn’t answer.”
I looked in the direction of the kitchen, my purse still on the counter where I’d left it. “Sorry, my phone’s in the kitchen.”
“Well, we’re trying to figure out what happened. We’ve got two dead serial killers and a kid who escaped the morning they died. Before I start looking at Scott for that murder, I wanted to know if you had any insights, especially since John Abbott called you that morning.”
I met Robert’s eyes for a heartbeat, then looked away. How many people, other than him and me, knew that he’d killed John?
And how had he known John was the BH Killer? The latter was a question I still needed the answer to.
“Right? Isn’t that what you told me initially? That John left you a short voice mail, asking you to call him back?” Detective Saxe looked up from a small tablet. “Care to change any part of that story?”
“Two dead serial killers?” I frowned. “You have definitive proof that Brooke Abbott was involved?”
“There’s no way she couldn’t have known. Not with him keeping the boys in the house. Now . . .” He let out a frustrated sigh. “Anything else I need to know? Because I got to tell you, Doc, given what your patient was up to, there’s about to be a lot more attention on your pretty little head.”
He was right. And if this was the moment that I lost my medical license, so be it. “John killed his wife. I don’t know that for certain, but I know that his desire to kill her was what I was treating him for, and I spent a year listening to him talk about it. You probably did a tox screen on her for poisons, but I would check for vitamins that can be deadly in combination with whatever her heart medication was.” I made it the short distance to the closest seat and sat, immediately relieved by the confession.
Detective Saxe peered down at me as if I were crazy. “John Abbott wanted to kill his wife? You expect me to believe that’s what you were treating him for?”
“Yes. His client file’s in my office. Take it with you, if you need to.”
“Wow. Suddenly singing and ready to unveil client confidences.” He looked at me with thinly veiled disgust. “You could have just told me this from the beginning. Saved the department and myself a lot of time.”
“They were both dead,” I said simply. “I didn’t know about the teenagers. I thought he was just a jealous husband, one who was trying not to hurt his wife.”
“I don’t think Dr. Moore should say anything else.” Robert stepped in, and it was sweet how a man who came here to kill me was now protecting my legal rights.
Saxe paused, and I waved him forward. “Keep going.”
“And John Abbott never said anything about the boys tied to a mattress in his attic?”
I forced myself not to go down the psychiatrist rabbit hole, but the details were fascinating. Brooke’s awareness of the acts. Her potential romantic involvement with the victims. Keeping them in their house.
In the expectant silence, I shook my head. “No. He never mentioned that. Never even hinted at it. I came right home as soon as I heard the news, to go through his file and see if there was something I missed, but . . .” I looked between the two men. “I don’t think I did. They were two separate silos. Morally, he was fine with being the BH Killer. Enjoyed it, if I had to guess. But his dark thoughts turning to Brooke . . . that scared him. That’s why he came to me. I just didn’t realize what I was dealing with.” I swallowed.
It was clear from Detective Saxe’s expression what he thought of my competency. Well, screw him. I had tried my best with the information I had been given. Yes, I’d kept things secret, in order to protect my career. But so had Robert. And probably, at some point, so had Detective Saxe. It was human nature to protect ourselves.