Torn - Cynthia Eden Page 0,113
so that’s one case that is closed.” He stalked past his lawyer and grabbed for the door.
Victoria glanced over her shoulder. When the door opened, she saw Wade and Asher standing there outside the room, perfect shields blocking Matthew’s exit.
“Get out of my way,” Matthew muttered.
They didn’t move.
Even Moore looked nervous.
“Don’t you want to look at this picture?” Victoria asked him softly. “It’s a rather good picture. Gets the abductor’s face so well . . . your face so well.”
Matthew’s shoulders stiffened. “I’m not in that picture.”
“Flynn saw you, didn’t he? Such a chance encounter. But he was an avid jogger, too, and he happened to be on that trail the morning you took Kennedy. And that was the moment everything changed. For you. For him. He knew what you’d done, but he didn’t go to the cops. Somehow—you and Flynn connected. Monster to monster, I guess. Which one of you had the idea to keep Kennedy alive so long?”
He glared at her.
“Was it you?” Victoria asked.
His jaw hardened. “Do your fucking job, Bob!” he yelled at his lawyer.
His lawyer’s mouth opened as if he was about to start to argue. Sarah didn’t give him the chance, as she fired out, “Or was it Flynn?”
Moore reached for the photos. “I need to see—” He broke off as his gaze scanned the images. “Ph-Photos can be faked.” He began thumbing through them.
Victoria knew exactly what he’d see in all those terrible images. Kennedy—being tortured. Kennedy—being held captive. Kennedy—and her abductor.
Matthew Walker.
“Flynn took the pictures. You did the crime.” No, both men were just as guilty. Both sick, twisted men. “Do you think they’ll hurt you?” Victoria asked him, cocking her head to the side.
“Who?”
“The men in prison.”
He lunged forward and grabbed her. “You cunt, I’m not going to prison! Flynn was the sick bastard who dug her up! I didn’t even know he was doing that shit! He did it because he knew you were coming to town. Wanted your fucking LOST self to find her. But he couldn’t have you leaving town too soon. No, no, he liked the game. Thought it was his turn. I’d taken Melissa. I’d waited, I’d planned, then he swooped in and he fucking killed her! After he’d taught me the value of keeping prey alive—he killed Melissa! He took her away before I—”
Still gripping her shoulders, Matthew broke off, but she knew what he’d been going to say. “Before you had any fun?” she finished, feeling sick.
“Get your hands off her.” Wade’s voice was low and lethal. “Or I will fucking break them right now.”
Matthew blinked. He shook his head. “I—” His hands fell away.
“My client is confused!” the lawyer sputtered. “His attack and his pain medications have made him . . . they’ve made him . . .”
For the first time since Victoria entered the room, Dace spoke. “They didn’t make him anything. He’s a murdering bastard who just confessed to his crimes, and I’m going to see to it that he rots in jail.”
He had confessed. He’d confessed.
Matthew stared at her—stared. Glared. And she knew he was going to attack even before the snarl ripped across his face. He lunged at her.
She punched him in the face. His lip busted under her fist and he howled.
In the next instant, Wade had grabbed Matthew’s hands. Wade twisted hard, and Victoria knew that Matthew’s bones had just snapped.
He fell to the floor, screaming.
“You can’t do that!” Moore yelled. “Police brutality! You can’t—”
“We’re not cops,” Victoria said.
“And from where the cop sits,” Dace added, “that was self-defense.”
Matthew was on the floor in a fetal position.
A grim smile curved Wade’s lips. “They are going to love you in prison.”
Matthew whimpered. “My hands . . . my hands . . .”
The hands that had brutalized Kennedy . . .
“Matthew Walker,” Dace said, voice sharp and hard. “You’re under arrest for the abduction and murder of Kennedy Lane.”
Victoria took a deep breath. Her racing heartbeat eased.
“You have the right to remain silent.”
Matthew was crying.
“Anything you say can and will be used against you . . .”
He’d already said plenty.
Enough to seal his fate.
“Let’s see how you like being prisoner,” Victoria said. And a cold smile curved her lips. Justice, finally.
Maybe both Kennedy and Melissa would be able to rest in peace.
“THANK YOU,” DACE said as he offered his hand, first to Victoria, then to Wade. “The case just wasn’t sitting right with me. I knew I was missing something, but my captain was yanking back. Telling me to