The baby whimpered weakly.
Slowly, her arms trembling, she extended the baby out to him.
She was delicate, light.
For a moment he was tempted to toss her over the cliff out of pure hatred.
But the look in Kimberly"s eyes stopped him.
She trusted him.
Shock trembled through him. He had just killed her husband, and she knew she was going to die in this blizzard as well, and still she trusted him.
Opening his coat, he tucked the girl against him and reb.u.t.toned it.
As she moved to lie next to her husband, he snarled in fury.
"Move away from him. I won"t let you die beside him. I won"t let you cuddle to him in death, Kimberly."
She was sobbing. Weak. Cold. The bodies of her brothers and sisters-in-law were scattered around her. Dead.
With each step she took away from her husband she cried harder until she had only the strength to cry, and collapsed in the ice and snow several feet from him.
She stared back at him, her tears falling so fast they were like streams down her face as he leveled the gun at her head.
"I love you," he whispered. "I always loved you, Kimberly. You were to be mine. We could have ruled Corbin County together."
He wasn"t even aware the moment he pulled the trigger.
It was a perfect shot straight into her heart.
He didn"t put a bullet in her face. He couldn"t risk damaging her perfect face.
She crumpled to the ground and, d.a.m.n her to h.e.l.l, if she had had a breath left in her he would have killed the brat in front of her for her final betrayal.
As she fell to the ground, her arm reached out, her fingers burying in her husband"s all-but-frozen hair.
A howl of rage brought a cry from the baby. A whimpering little sound of distress that struck at his heart. At a heart he swore he could not still possess the day he"d realized how she had betrayed him.
But she was so like his own daughter. So small and fragile. And he did love his own child. His flesh and blood. Amelia wasn"t Kimberly"s daughter, but she was still his own.
Together they wouldn"t find a treasure others could only dream about. Together they wouldn"t create their own family. And now, he would never see her smile or know her laughter again.
It wasn"t the daughter"s fault, it was the son"s.
That little b.a.s.t.a.r.d. If she hadn"t become pregnant with him, then David Callahan could have never convinced her to marry him, Wayne was certain of it.
As he stared at her fallen body, the first teardrop fell.
He"d murdered the Callahans" parents, and even then he"d felt no sorrow. He"d felt none until his precious Kimberly had fallen, her hand reaching out to touch her beloved husband.
Beloved.
She loved him.
The baby girl whimpered at his chest again and his tears only fell faster.
"Kimmy-" he sobbed, and rushed to her.
Holding her daughter to his heart, he lifted her to him, cradled her head to him, her daughter cushioned between them, and he sobbed.
"Ah, Kimmy. Kimmy, why did you have to take him? Why? Ah, Kimmy, why?"
He shed his tears in her silken hair, so like sunlight and warmth. He sobbed his soul out to her, sobbed his heart out to her. And there, beneath a blizzard that later hid the fiery explosion that all but obliterated the bodies in it, he"d killed the only woman who held his heart.
Obliterated his Kimmy.
A tear slid down his cheek. The first tear in twenty-four years.
Their anniversary was coming soon, just as Anna"s true birthday was coming. That blizzard had rolled in during September. Anna celebrated her birthday September tenth. Her true birthday was August twenty-ninth.
This August, she would die, no more than weeks away.
He would take her and laugh at her, though inside, he knew he would shed again each tear he had shed the night he had taken her mother"s life.
He would rape her and watch her cry.
He would slice into her body with his c.o.c.k and then with his blade, and his soul would weep.
And he would send her to Heaven to her mother"s arms.
A soft knock at the office door had him turning, a smile pulling at his lips as his daughter entered.
His flesh and blood.
As fragile as Anna, as delicate, and just as corrupted by the Callahans.
His Amelia would never forget the night Crowe Callahan had held her, just as he couldn"t sever that invisible bond of brother and sister between Anna and Crowe.
"I found the information you were searching for."
He blinked back at her in shock. "Excuse me?"
She entered the room, all smooth, delicate grace.
She looked as he"d always imagined his daughter with Kimberly would look. His hair, his Kimmy"s eyes. Her smooth, creamy complexion with just that hint of freckles over her nose.
She moved across the office, balanced on five-inch heels that made her appear all legs, and laid the file she"d brought in with her on the desk.
"I"m not sure what all of it means." She sighed. "The private investigator I hired in California was rushing out on another job and I was late for my plane." She shook her head.
She was tired.
He"d had her on the road for weeks, since the day before Anna had returned to Corbin County. But she"d tracked down the information he"d sent her after.
"You found him, then?" he queried.
Sitting down in the leather chair in front of his desk she nodded tiredly. "Marcus Duclock is currently residing in San Quentin on a life sentence for the rape and murder of a prost.i.tute. He"s been there for over ten years."
"Well, then, we know he had nothing to do with Katy Winslow"s murder." He sighed, knowing full well that the b.a.s.t.a.r.d hadn"t had anything to do with it.
He"d needed Amelia out of town, though. Out of town and away from Anna Corbin.
She was a treasure, his daughter.
He hadn"t done well by her, though, he admitted. He"d forced her to drop her final year in college, forced her to relinquish her dream of teaching school and work for him instead.
So he could watch her.
So he could make d.a.m.ned certain she never returned to Crowe Callahan"s arms.
He"d had to keep her away from the b.a.s.t.a.r.d.
"What should I do now?" She stared back at him intently, sincerity reflecting in her gaze. "It couldn"t have been Duclock. Where do we go from here?"
He rubbed his hand along the back of his neck as though he were truly concerned with the subject and he shook his head.
As she laid her head against the back of the chair, her weariness apparent in her expression and the exhausted slump of her body, he decided now was the time to test her loyalty.
"Anna Corbin moved in with the sheriff while you were gone," he told her quietly.
Her eyes opened slowly, derision glittering in them for a moment, before she looked up at the ceiling, once again with a weariness that touched his heart.
"She"s determined to get herself killed." She sighed.
"I remember a time when you wanted to be close to Crowe Callahan as well," he stated gently.
"I may not like the method, but I appreciate the effort you made to ensure I took the time to consider the foolishness of that, too," she stated, her gaze thoughtful, regretful. "None of them are worth dying for. And the Slasher"s not just killing their lovers now. It"s apparently anyone close to them if Katy"s death was anything to go by."
"Was Katy close to him?" He hadn"t been aware of that.
"Wouldn"t she have had to be?" Amelia closed her eyes again, relaxing against her chair as she appeared to be fighting the need for a nap.
Jet lag was always hard on her.
"Archer and I haven"t figured out her connection to them yet." He made certain his tone echoed with regret. "That poor child. I"ve had nightmares over losing you in such a way, Amelia."
She gave a delicate little snort. "I"m not a kid anymore, Dad. And as I said, the means sucked, but I appreciate it more than you know. Even if his lovers weren"t being killed off with frightening frequency, he"s not exactly the type of man a woman wants to build a future with." She opened her eyes and stared back at him with rueful amus.e.m.e.nt. "I know you like the Callahans, despite our fights over them when I was younger, but I can see now what I should have seen then."
"And that is?" he asked curiously.
"Crowe Callahan"s way too selfish for a woman who wants a family of her own." She smiled softly.
That smile.
It was almost a motherly smile. She"d once sworn to him he would never see grandchildren from her.
"You want a family of your own, now?" he asked, fighting back the hope of a grandchild.
"Yeah, I do." She nodded. "A good husband and a few kids would be nice, Dad. Really nice." She pushed herself slowly to her feet. "I think I"ll head home now. Maybe give Anna a call later and see if I can"t make her see reason. If I can"t, then perhaps it"s time to sever that friendship. Losing a friend to the Slasher is more than I want to face."
"I wouldn"t go that far, sweetie." He crossed the room, gripped her shoulders, and gave her a gentle kiss on the cheek.
She had stopped stiffening and moving away from him nearly a year before.
"Do you think I should wait?" she asked, clearly torn and asking his opinion. Sincerely wanting his input?
His heart swelled. Could he have been wrong? Could she be worth allowing to live?
"Let"s discuss it a bit after you talk to her. Maybe she"ll see reason. You always were able to talk to her when no one else could."
Amelia shook her head. "She stopped listening to me when she went to college." She shrugged. "But I"ll talk to her. Shall I call you before I meet with her?"
He gave a slow nod. "That would be nice, dearest. You know how I worry."
"And now I understand why." Reaching up, she kissed his cheek before picking up her bags. "I"m going home and going to bed now. Love you, Dad."
"And I love you, baby."
His voice almost thickened.
She was forgiving him.
It had been slow. It hadn"t been easy. And the truth was, many things he had done were only to ensure an alibi and lack of suspicion where the Slasher"s victims were concerned.
As she left the office, he blinked back his tears.
His precious, sweet little baby.
If only she had been Kimmy"s as well.
Anna answered the phone the second the caller ID revealed the name of the caller.
"Amelia Sorenson, it"s about time you called me," Anna berated her friend with a laugh. "I"ve missed the h.e.l.l out of you."
"As I hear it, you haven"t had time to miss anyone." There was a snap to her friend"s voice that Anna frowned over. "All shacked up with that sheriff, and playing personal a.s.sistant to that cousin of yours."