Fear Nothing (Detective D.D. Warren #7) - Lisa Gardner Page 0,113

from years of trying to hide the worst of myself.

He’d been here. In my closet. He’d . . .

Then I knew.

I moved the dresser myself, exposing the desired floorboards. On my hands and knees, prying up the first, then the second.

My recently emptied hiding place wasn’t empty anymore. Instead, it contained a shoe box. A perfectly ordinary shoe box, just like one I used to have. Or the one I’d seen in my father’s crime scene photos.

I knew. Even as I lifted it out. Even as I placed it on the floor.

I knew what I would find inside. The true horrors that could lurk in the most ordinary of boxes, tucked beneath a closet floor.

The Rose Killer inside my home. The Rose Killer bearing gifts. The Rose Killer bringing me the one thing he or she knew I would want most, hidden in a place no one, not even my sister, knew existed.

I removed the lid. Set it aside.

Then gazed down in horrified fascination at three brand-new mason jars filled with fresh ribbons of human skin, the replacement for my collection.

I screamed. But there was no one around to hear.

Chapter 31

WE’RE BEING STUPID,” D.D. said.

“We as in you and me, or we as in your case team?” Alex asked.

“All of the above.”

“Okay, what have we been stupid about?” They were sitting on the sofa in the living room. D.D. had returned home in time to put Jack to bed, a ritual she’d needed after all the intensity of her day. Now she had her feet on Alex’s lap and a large ice pack on her left shoulder.

“For starters, we don’t have a killer. I was hoping by now we would.”

“Well, you can’t just conjure up these things.”

“Oh, I was prepared to use deductive reasoning. No conjuring required.”

“Wanna catch me up?”

“Okay.” D.D. repositioned the ice pack on her shoulder while composing her thoughts. “First question we had: Could Shana be communicating with an outside friend/ally/killer, and if so, how?”

“Survey says?”

“Probably not. The biggest evidence that suggested she did have an outside ally was the fact she seemed to know things she shouldn’t. However, Adeline believes Shana is simply more observant than most. Basically, Shana doesn’t possess special knowledge, as much as she’s adept at using social engineering skills to manipulate others. Turns out, she may have talked three corrections officers into their own deaths. At least they weren’t very nice corrections officers.”

“Okay. But if she isn’t communicating with the Rose Killer, what is her relationship with the killer?”

“That one is harder to answer. More and more, we think this all has to do with Donnie Johnson’s murder thirty years ago. Adeline doesn’t believe anymore that her sister killed the boy. I’m not willing to go that far just yet, but there’s definitely more to that night than came out at trial. Charlie Sgarzi earned the title of biggest loser of the day by revealing he most likely sent his own cousin to his death.”

“Seriously?”

“Yeah. Apparently, twelve-year-old Donnie served as the messenger between Charlie and Shana. Meaning when Charlie decided his girlfriend was too slutty or, possibly, too scary for him—I’m not sure which—he sent his younger cousin to deliver the news.”

“Nice.”

“Charlie agrees he is an asshole, but Shana is still the monster. Now, get this. Talking with the foster mom, we learned Shana was involved with two other boys. One was a twentysomething drug dealer called Shep, the other a seventeen-year-old kid who lived in the same house, named Samuel. Mrs. Davies apparently caught Shana and Sam together at least twice, and according to Charlie, Sam’s interest in Shana was intense. She might’ve been love ’em and leave ’em, but he considered her the real deal.”

“Ooh, a wounded teenage boy. But still sounds like Shana is the only one with motive to murder Donnie. Kill the messenger and all that.”

D.D. shrugged, then immediately wished she hadn’t. Melvin was currently quite annoyed. She’d tried speaking to him, but apparently her inner Exile was capable of having a snit. Maybe because she’d been a bad Self and pushed too hard today.

Wow, D.D. sounded loonier all the time.

“Adeline thinks Shana didn’t kill Donnie,” she continued, “but maybe saw what happened, which triggered a psychotic episode, erasing her memories from the evening and setting her up to take the blame.”

“But Donnie didn’t have any enemies, right? He was the good kid.”

“By all accounts. Only thing I can think, and it fits with your kill-the-messenger theory, is that this Sam was an even bigger dope than