Hide & Seek - Nicole Edwards Page 0,87
my friends. I play the game with my friends. To make them happy. It’s supposed to make them happy.”
“But it doesn’t?”
“He doesn’t let me play for long.”
Brantley frowned, trying to keep up. “Who? John?”
John/Jake shook his head. “Not John. He’s nice. He loves me.”
Brantley waited, holding his breath.
Again, the detective looked around, eyes wild as though he expected someone to jump out at him.
“Who, Jake? Who’s the mean one?”
“Jack,” he whispered loudly. “He’s the mean one. He doesn’t like playin’ games.”
There was a third one?
“I try to make it better when he’s done. I really, really try, but they cry when we play. I don’t know why, but they cry.”
“Then what happens, Jake?”
The response didn’t come, but right before Brantley’s eyes, the man’s expression shifted, hardened, his posture straightening. Gone was the child, in his place the grown man they’d originally talked to at the police station.
“John?” Please, God, let it be John and not another one.
“You shouldn’t be here, Walker.”
Okay, good. It was John.
“We’re here to help you,” Brantley said softly. “We’re just here to help.”
“They’re dead, Walker. They’re all dead.”
He sure as fuck hoped not. And since Reese hadn’t returned, he could only pray he’d found the women and he had called emergency services.
“We know you were protectin’ Jake. He told us. That’s why you did it, right? That’s why you hid their bodies?”
“I had to,” he said, his tone adamant. “He doesn’t deserve what happened to him.”
He saw the man’s eyes dart toward the coffee table.
“Don’t move, John,” Brantley ordered, taking control of the situation. “Don’t fuckin’ move.”
“You can’t take him,” John stated, his tone hard. “You can’t take my brother. He won’t survive without me.”
“We’re not gonna take him. He needs to get help, John. We just want him to get some help.”
“They won’t help him. They’ll hurt him. They always hurt him.”
“He said there’s one woman missin’,” Brantley said, hoping to divert his attention. “Who’s missin’, John? Where is she?”
John shook his head, glared back. “You need to let this go, Walker. You need to leave. Let it go.”
“I can’t do that. You know I can’t. Those women have families, John. Their families miss them.”
“Families are overrated,” he snarled.
Brantley figured in John’s case that was true. He didn’t want to think about what his mother had done to him, what horrific things she’d put him through that had made his brain splinter like that.
In the distance, Brantley could hear the faint sound of sirens. Hopefully they were headed their way.
“She’s gone,” John said, his tone somber. “I couldn’t save her. He didn’t want him to play with her anymore.”
“Who, John? Was it Jack?”
John’s eyes rounded like saucers at the mention of the name. He started shaking his head, a move similar to the way the child identity had. “Don’t do that, Walker. I’m warnin’ you. Don’t do that.”
“Tell me where she is,” he said easily, trying to stay calm.
“He didn’t want Jake to play with her anymore,” he repeated. “I had to. I had to.” The detective stared at him, eyes cold. “She’s gone.”
“Where? We need to get her, John. That’s your job. It’s your job to find them. Help me find her. Tell me where she is. We can save her, John.”
“They’ll find her soon enough. The water’s shallow.”
“Water? Is she at the lake?” Brantley pulled out his phone, hit the button to dial, wishing like fuck he had a direct connection rather than a fucking cell phone. “JJ, I need your help.”
“Where are you?”
He ignored her question. “She’s at the lake,” he relayed.
“Who?”
“One of the women. John hasn’t told me where, but she’s at the lake. Call someone. Have them get over there now.”
“Will do.”
Footsteps sounded to his left, but they were a familiar sound. He wasn’t sure how he knew it was Reese, but he could sense his presence.
“Police are on the way,” Reese said, his gun raised and trained on John when he stepped out of the hallway into the room. “They’re in bad shape, but they’re alive.”
“I can’t let you take him in,” John said calmly, his eyes darting down to the coffee table again. “I can’t let them take Jake.”
“He needs help,” Brantley repeated. “They just want to help him.”
Christ Almighty, he hoped like hell backup arrived soon.
“No.” The tone of his voice firmed, became harder. “They’ll lock him up. Put him in a cage. He can’t be in a cage. Never again.”
The sirens grew louder, approaching the house now.
“John, the police are outside. They’re here to help the