Not, of course, that I can talk. David was getting a CAT scan because Eve had gotten herself involved in the Shadowland murders and then with Noah, and by association, this maniac that wanted to hurt them.

With a sigh Eve sat, continuing her search of articles about Noah. There’s something here. I just have to find it.

Chapter Eighteen

Wednesday, February 24, 5:30 p.m.

Harvey put his microwave dinner aside when the doorbell rang. Webster was at the police station, so he’d ducked back home to grab some dinner. It had been a long week and Webster had kept some long hours, which meant Harvey had as well.

Startled to see her, he threw the door open to the woman his son had once loved with all his heart. “Katie, honey. What are you doing here?”

Katie came into the living room, her lovely face pale. “We need to talk.”

Harvey helped her to a chair. “I thought you were at your parents’. What’s wrong?”

Katie stared up at him, her eyes glazed with fear. “Where’s Dell?”

Harvey sat next her, apprehension coiling in his gut. “I don’t know. Why?”

“This is unbelievable.” She shook her head. “Did you know what he was up to?”

“I’m not sure anymore. Talk to me.”

She pressed her fingers to her mouth. “I knew he was losing it, but I never dreamed he’d… Dell’s in trouble. We need to find him and get him out of town.”

“Why? What has he done?”

“The cops say he’s killed someone.”

Harvey shook his head, this time in denial. “No, my son is not a killer.”

“They said he killed a reporter. Kurt Buckland.”

Harvey frowned. “I know that name.”

“He covered V’s funeral. He comes to this bar named Sal’s.”

Where Webster goes once a week. “I know the place. Dell killed him at Sal’s?”

“No. But the cops that go to Sal’s said Dell’s been harassing the bartender and today he tried to kill her. They said he’s been posing as this Buckland guy all week, but this morning they found Buckland’s apartment covered in blood. Buckland’s missing and they say Dell did it.” She was becoming hysterical, hyperventilating.

“Calm down,” Harvey ordered. “How do you know this?”

She blinked, as if thrown by the question. “I’ve been hanging at Sal’s for three weeks. Kissing up to Jack Phelps so Dell could trap him. It’s part of your plan.”

Harvey stared. “You’re Dell’s Trojan Horse?”

She nodded. “I was supposed to snuggle up to Phelps, watch him from the inside.”

“Drug him to make him sleep,” Harvey said dully.

“That was self-preservation. I couldn’t stand the thought of the man touching me.”

“He hurt you?” Harvey snarled softly.

“No, but he’s a sex addict. He blows off work for it and I’m not the first. Like Dell said, it was just a matter of time before the guy got himself fired. We just sped it up.”

Harvey sat back. “So you’re helping Dell fry Phelps by sleeping with him?”

She flinched. “The bastard deserves it for what he did to V. I’ll do what I have to.”

This is all insane. “Why would Dell kill Buckland? It doesn’t make sense.”

“Of course it does. It makes perfect sense.”

Harvey and Katie swung around to look behind them. Dell stood in the kitchen doorway. He’d come in the back door. “What’s this about, Dell?” Harvey demanded.

Dell’s eyes made Harvey’s blood run cold. “You told. You turned me in.”

It took Harvey a minute, but when he understood, he lurched to his feet. “Are you saying I told the cops you killed Buckland? I didn’t even know about him.”

“No, but you knew about last night. I wasn’t playing by your rules. Stupid rules. You would have sat, waiting and watching those two until you died. You’re pathetic.”

“I didn’t call the cops, Dell.” Harvey took a step back. “Why would I?”

“Because you lost control. I wasn’t your ‘boy’ anymore. You couldn’t stand the fact that your plan wasted a year and mine got results in three fucking weeks.”

“Don’t you take that tone with me,” Harvey warned, but his voice trembled.

Dell laughed bitterly. “I’ll take whatever tone I want. I’ll do whatever I want. And you can’t stop me. Nobody can.”

“Dell,” Katie inserted, “you’ve got to get away. Didn’t you get my messages? I tried to warn you. The cops are passing around a sketch of you at Sal’s.”

“Shut up,” he snarled and swung, hitting her with the back of his fist. Thrown against the sofa, she started to cry. “This is all your fault anyway, you fucking whore.”

Harvey caught Dell’s arm before his son could deliver another blow. “Stop it. Stop this right now. I don’t know what’s gotten into you, but I will not tolerate hitting a woman.”

Dell made no move to wrest his arm free. They stood, nose to nose, eye to eye, and for the first time, Harvey knew true fear. “No,” Dell said softly. “You just hit little kids. Well, guess what, Pop? I’m not a little kid anymore. And you shouldn’t have told on me.”

Harvey’s heart was pounding too hard. “I didn’t tell. I didn’t. Tell me you didn’t kill anyone and I’ll hide you. Run, and I’ll tell the cops I don’t know where you are.”

“I’m not running because I’m not finished. You,” he barked to Katie, who was edging toward the door. “Get back here. I’m not done with you.” Katie started to run, but Dell grabbed her by the hair and flung her to the sofa. “I said I’m not done with you.”

Harvey took a step forward, but stumbled back when Dell’s fist plowed into his jaw. Then froze when his surviving son pulled a gun with a silencer from one pocket and a pair of handcuffs from another. “I brought my own tools,” Dell sneered. He snapped the cuffs on Katie, turning her facedown on the sofa. “Now you’ll stay put.”

“Dell. Why are you doing this? What has Katie ever done to you?”

Dell’s laugh sent another chill through his blood. “You thought V was innocent, but he wasn’t. He killed that guy. But do you know why he was in that store to begin with?”

“No,” Harvey said, not taking his eyes from the gun in Dell’s hand. “Tell me why.”

“Because he needed the money. Because he wanted to buy more stuff for his fiancée because he was afraid she was steppin’ out on him with another guy. And guess what? He was right. She was just using him, spending his money faster than he could earn it.”

“It’s not true,” Harvey said. “Katie wouldn’t have cheated on VJ. She loved him.”

Dell lifted Katie by the hair again. “Tell him where you were the day VJ died.”

“With you,” Katie whispered, terrified.

Dell shook her. “Louder.”

“With you,” Katie cried. “I was with you. In VJ’s bed. I was with you.”

Harvey couldn’t breathe. “You were sleeping with your brother’s fiancée?”

“She didn’t do much sleeping,” Dell said bitterly and threw Katie down in disgust. “She hasn’t done much sleeping any night for the past three weeks.”

“You were with her?” Harvey asked, faintly. “All these nights?”

“While Phelps slept like the dead in the next room. I know. Sickening, isn’t it?”

But Dell didn’t look sickened. He looked… insane. “How could you, Dell?”

Dell shook his head, slowly. “V was always bigger than life. I can’t count the times he saved me from you, taking the blame for whatever made you mad.” He seemed to have run out of steam and Harvey watched, waiting for the opportunity to take the gun.

“I always wanted to be V,” Dell went on, wistfully. “He got all the girls. When Katie came on to me… I just took what she offered. And I’ve lived with that for the last year.”

“You seduced Dell?” Harvey whispered. “And you’re still sleeping with him?”

Tears ran down Katie’s face. “VJ worked all the time. I was lonely and it just happened one day. I didn’t plan it.”

Stunned, he stared. “But you’re still sleeping with him.”