Seductive Reasoning (TASK FORCE HAWAII Book 1) Read online

  Del growled. He couldn’t help it.

  There was a knock at the door, and he could see Cat’s face in the little window.

  “Watch him,” he said to Marcus.

  “Do I have to growl at him like you do?” he asked.

  Charity chuckled but said nothing. Del tossed him a nasty look, then stepped out in the hallway. The moment he saw Cat’s expression, he knew she had good news.

  “They found her, Boss,” Cat said, relief easy to hear in her voice.

  “Alive?”

  She nodded. “Really bad off from what Adam said, but she’s alive. They’re transporting her to Tripler as we speak.”

  “She was found on the grounds?”

  “In a shed with a makeshift cage inside. There was a ton of horrible things in there. Adam said tools, and the damned tattoo needles.”

  “Jesus.”

  Cat nodded. “It means we can arrest him, right?”

  “Yes. First, I want to talk to that assistant. Where is he?”

  “He’s waiting in the conference room.”

  He nodded and strode out the door. When he burst into the room, Morgan looked frightened. “I-is there something wrong?”

  “Yes. We found a woman who has been missing for days on the grounds of your employer’s house.”

  His face paled, and his eyes rolled back as if he were about to pass out. “I know nothing about that.”

  “You know about the shed?”

  He nodded. “But I was not allowed to have anything to do with it. Like, normally.”

  “Normally.”

  He swallowed. “Yes. Mr. Stanton likes his privacy. He claims he paints out there. He always has a private place kept under lock and key no matter where we are living. I am not permitted.”

  Del grabbed the bastard by the collar and pulled him up off the ground. “You didn’t know what was going on? I find that hard to believe.”

  “I s-swear. I didn’t know. I never know,” he said as he started to cry.

  “You didn’t want to know. It doesn’t mean I can’t count you as an accessory.”

  “N-no. I didn’t know, but I can help. I can help you. If Mr. Stanton did this...” He swallowed again, and Del started to worry that he would throw up on him. “I know everywhere he has lived for six years. I kept an account of all of his business dealings.”

  “And you’ll hand all this over?”

  He nodded. “Everything.”

  Del dropped him and looked at Cat. “Get Marcus, and you two go over everything with him. Don’t leave anything out.”

  Morgan nodded. “I have my laptop with me and the flash drive.”

  Del walked out of the room and down the hallway. He drew in a deep breath, then opened the door to Emma’s office. Stanton was giving him that same smirk, and he wanted, more than anything, to smack it off his face. Instead, he stepped in, and smiled.

  “Richard Stanton, you’re under arrest for the abduction and rape of Jin Phillips.”

  CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

  Long after the medical transport had taken away Jin, Elle, Adam and McGregor were still going through Stanton’s belongings. Henry continued standing outside, ready to offer them any assistance. Adam’s heart went out to the old guy. He’d aged at least a dozen years in the hour they had been searching the house.

  “I don’t even want to know what went on in that shed,” McGregor said.

  Adam watched CID folks comb the area. Drew had joined them earlier, while Marcus and Del had stayed behind to interrogate Stanton.

  “You haven’t heard from Elle, have you?” McGregor asked.

  He shook his head. “She said she would contact us as soon as Jin’s condition was assessed.”

  Adam still could not get that image out of his head. Her body was bruised, a new tattoo on her back...open sores. Along with the bruising around her neck. It was a sight he would never forget, and he knew he was partially to blame for it. He should have known she would become a target, but seeing her was too hard...too much. He couldn’t deal with her being near, so he had used the orders from Del to keep his distance from her.

  And she had paid for it.

  “I know you knew her better than the rest of us.”

  “I know her.”

  “What?”

  “I know her. She isn’t dead. She survived. And, she didn’t deserve this. No one is bad enough in this world to deserve this.”

  McGregor nodded as they both watched Drew step out of the shed. The usually smiling tech had a grim expression on his face. The horror would be imprinted on his memory forever.

  “That one is never going to forget this.”

  “Hell,” Adam said, thinking of the reaction of the seasoned CID personnel. “None of us will.”

  * * *

  “Do you want to explain why you built a shed on the property you leased?” Marcus asked Stanton.

  Del stood in the corner, allowing Marcus to take the lead. With his years of experience with DC Metro PD, Marcus knew just how to run an interrogation. Del had learned a lot since taking the job, and one thing he’d learned was that Adam and Marcus were the best at getting the truth out of people. Well, without beating the crap out of them.

  Stanton said nothing as he ran his finger down the lapel of his tailored suit. He looked bored. He hadn’t said a word since they’d processed him, not even asking for a lawyer. It didn’t mean he wasn’t guilty, only that he was screwing with them.

  “They are processing the shed right now,” Del said.

  Something flashed in Stanton’s eyes. Del looked at Marcus, who nodded. He had seen it too.

  Marcus sat back, relaxing his pose. “Yes, they are going through all of your special tools, you know? Bagging and tagging them. Hell, some of them are here in the building, being handled by the staff. They get to touch them, but you’ll never see them again. Well, except at trial. They will bring them in, but you will just get to look at them and not touch them.”

  Stanton shifted in his chair and frowned. Still, he said nothing.

  “You did a good job of keeping your bodily fluids off the women. You cleaned them well. But, do you think in the last few months that you have been playing around in that death chamber that you didn’t leave something, somewhere? That we won’t find your semen?”

  He looked at Del, then Marcus, as a sick smile curved his lips. “I can guarantee you won’t.”

  Marcus’ eyes narrowed, and he opened his mouth, but Stanton stopped him.

  “This has been very entertaining, but I think I would like to call my lawyer.”

  A good five seconds ticked by before Marcus rose from his chair and walked out of the room.

  “We’ll get a phone to you as soon as we can, Stanton,” Del said as he walked out into the hallway.

  He found Marcus pacing back and forth. “That bastard was just fucking with us.”

  “Yeah, he was. What are you doing?”

  “Trying to walk off my anger.”

  Cat came around the corner and came to an abrupt stop. “Uh, what’s up?”

  “He asked for a lawyer.”

  She nodded. “Everything on the assistant checks out. He was not in Japan during that last attack. He was off the island for a family emergency. His mother died.”

  She handed him a piece of paper. Del scanned it, the proof she had spoken about.

  “It’s still hard to believe that little bastard didn’t know what was going on.”

  “There is a good chance he just didn’t want to know. He knew it was bad, but kept his eyes closed to what was going on,” Marcus said.

  Cat nodded. “Just talked to Adam. The shed was insulated.”

  “He soundproofed his torture chamber, the sick fuck,” Marcus muttered.

  “It does check out though. I’d like to put Morgan up in a safe house, but it was denied,” Del said. The mayor had cited budget concerns, but congratulated him on catching the killer, because that made a difference.

  “We can’t keep him here,�
�� Cat said.

  Del rubbed the back of his neck. “And he can’t go back to the house.”

  “He said he would be happy to get a room in Waikiki,” Cat said. “We can send a black and white with him, say it is for his benefit.”

  “Yeah, that might work.” He looked at Marcus. “Since we have all the info he has for right now, tell him we will escort him to Waikiki. He can pick the hotel. You take him, but get a black and white to keep watch on him. I want people inside the hotel in the hallway where he is staying. I still don’t trust him, but we can’t keep him here.”

  Marcus nodded. “Heard from Emma?”

  Emma had left two hours earlier, irritated with everything. She hated this part of the job, and rarely stuck around unless he insisted.

  “A text saying that the news had gotten wind of it. Which reminds me, take him out the back way. She said that Morgan’s name wasn’t mentioned, but you never know. They will dig it up soon enough. Also, get Stanton a phone and let him call a lawyer. Then, get someone to watch him.”

  Marcus nodded as he and Cat went off to do Del’s bidding. He headed back to his office. He had to call the mayor and governor.

  Something was bothering him about the entire situation. Something was...off. The comment about not finding his semen? Was Stanton overly confident? Before Del could work it out, his phone rang. Damn, the governor.

  He shoved his thoughts aside and took the call.

  * * *

  Graeme arrived to find Elle standing beside Jin’s bed. They were in a private room, a guard at the door, but he hadn’t expected to find Elle still there.

  She was dressed in scrubs, mainly because her clothes had been bloodied at the scene. When she looked up at him, he felt a sharp kick to the gut. Her eyes were swollen, as if she’d had a long bout of crying. It was hard to remember that she had been barking orders at the EMTs like a bloody drill sergeant just a few hours earlier.

  “You didn’t need to stay,” Graeme said, trying to keep his voice low.

  “Yes, I did. And it will be better if I’m here. She needs a woman. Cat is busy with more important things. Charity will process the evidence with Drew. The staff can’t sit in here waiting on her. She needs someone here and she has no family.”

  He nodded and took a seat. He studied Jin, taking in the way her face was swollen from the beatings she had taken. Yellow and purple bruises marred her neck. If Graeme did not know who she was, he would have never picked this person as the woman he knew as Jin Phillips. She was almost unrecognizable.

  “Did you find any more evidence?”

  Graeme shifted his attention to the doctor. He didn’t like the woman much, but he had to give her credit. She had kept her nerves steady, and she was still sitting here hours later. He had no issues with her work ethic, and his reasons for not liking her were personal.

  “Too much. Morgan turned over a lot of it. He had files, records of where they had been. He had a listing of every house they rented. Addresses, rental agreements, contacts. They will be running down all the information.”

  In that next instant, Jin came awake with a gasp. Elle was on her feet and by her bed instantly. The wild-eyed look from the young woman told Graeme that she thought she was still in the house.

  “Jin, it’s okay, shhh,” Elle said, her voice softer than he had ever heard it. “You’re okay. You’re safe.”

  When Jin saw Elle, she started crying. “What? Where?”

  Then she couldn’t continue as she broke down. The sobs filled the room, and suddenly, he wanted to be anywhere but there. The pain he heard in them, even with the thread of relief, hurt to hear.

  “It’s okay, love, you are going to be all right.”

  “You don’t understand. You have no idea.” The strangled confession was filled with shame.

  “Jin, look at me.” Elle took her hand and looked her in the eye. “Look at me.”

  She waited for the woman to look at her. “I know.”

  Elle whispered the words, and he was barely able to hear them over the beeping machines. Those two words seemed to defeat Jin, and she started crying again.

  “Jin, we have the man in custody. We just need you to tell us who did this.”

  At that point, Jin noticed him and turned white. It was as if she had never seen him before. They had talked more than once, but the sheer panic in her expression told him that her mind wasn’t ready to accept that.

  Elle turned toward him, and then turned back around. “That’s McGregor, he’s TFH.”

  “I don’t...” Jin looked away. He heard the shame in her voice and the fear. It made him want to find Stanton and beat the bastard to death. It was better than he deserved.

  While still holding Jin’s hand, she turned to McGregor. Her eyes were pleading as she asked, “Could you give us a minute?”

  He nodded. He stepped out into the hallway to wait. He had some bloody horrible things in his life. He’d served in special forces for the Royal Marines. Humans could do some awful things to each other especially during war. But the idea that someone chose to do something like that, to torture women was almost too horrible to comprehend. And he knew that the bastard had enjoyed it.

  He scrubbed his hand over his face and thought back to the conversation Elle and Jin had had just moments earlier. What the bloody hell was Elle talking about when she said I know?

  Before he could answer his internal questions, a female doctor came down the hall. “She awake?”

  He nodded. She knocked, then went in when Elle said to enter.

  Elle opened the door a moment later, her face pale, and her eyes wide with fear. “We need to call Del. Now.”

  * * *

  Cat came in, her face grim. “We have a problem, Boss.”

  “What now?”

  “It seems that Stanton wasn’t here the day that Jin was taken.”

  “What?”

  “He was at a meeting on Kauai about the land development. It was their last bid to get the approval from the council. He couldn’t have taken her.”

  Fuck. This was not possible. It was his house, his room, his money. The woman was there. How the hell had that happened?

  “Are we sure? Did you talk to people there?”

  Cat nodded. “They all said he was there. What are you thinking?”

  “I think that we have something wrong. The way he acted when we said we would find semen...he was sure he couldn’t be caught that way.”

  “He said that?”

  “Not in those words, but he was pretty sure we would find no trace of him.”

  “I don’t know what to tell you. He could be just screwing with you.”

  As he turned the idea over in his mind, his phone rang. It was McGregor.

  “What?”

  “It’s Elle. Please tell me you have Stanton and his assistant there. Please.”

  “Why?”

  “Jin woke up. She woke up and said both. They were both in on it.”

  Marcus came down the hall, his face grim. Del’s stomach tightened at the expression, and he knew it couldn’t be good news.

  “Morgan is missing. He gave the detail the slip.”

  Fuck. Could anything else go wrong? “Tell McGregor to stay there. You need to make sure no one gets in to see her, except staff. Do you understand?’

  She didn’t hesitate. “Yes.”

  He hung up without another word. His phone buzzed.

  Emma.

  “Hey, is the interrogation over?” she asked as she munched on something.

  “No. Where are you?”

  “At home.”

  His heart started beating again. “Stay there and don’t leave.”

  “Why?” Suddenly, he heard a crash over the phone.

  “Bloody hell,” Emma yelled.

  He was already running to the door. “Emma, what was that? What happened?”

  “It’s Morgan, he broke in here. You bastard—”

  He heard a slap, as if flesh had hit flesh. Then, somethin
g fell crashed against the ground, then the line went dead.

  CHAPTER NINETEEN

  Emma saw stars as she tried to stand up. Pain radiated from her cheek. She grabbed hold of the kitchen counter, trying to gain her balance. The room spun around her as she blinked, trying to slow it down. The bastard slapped hard.

  “You ruined everything, you bitch,” Morgan screamed, his voice vibrating with disgust and anger. He was a mess. His hair was a tangled heap, his clothes looked like he had slept five days in them, and rage poured off of him in waves.

  Before she could right herself, Morgan backhanded her again. He used enough force to send her stumbling back again. She tasted blood, this time.

  “I had everything planned, everything perfect.”

  He definitely did not sound as if he were thinking straight. Of course he wasn’t, she thought. He’d broken into her apartment and slapped her upside the head.

  “I didn’t do anything. You’re a murdering bastard. You were bound to get caught.”

  His eyes widened and his face turned red. He fisted his hands and held them up in the air.

  “We. We were bound to get caught.”

  She blinked, as everything seemed to fall into place. We. He said we. That meant they were both involved. Now it made sense. With two perpetrators, they had an easier time of handling the women and dumping the bodies. She had often wondered just how someone could pose a body without someone finding them doing it. With two people, one of them could look out and make sure they were not caught.

  “Ah, I see you have worked it out. You are the first to do so. No one ever thought I was involved. It was easier that way, you know. Stanton has a thing for hurting women. He doesn’t like them very much.”

  “And you stood by and watched. That makes you worse.”

  He shook his head, his eyes glassy with sick amusement. Her stomach roiled. The bastard was reliving his actions right then. Right at this minute, he was thinking about what he did to the women.

  “No. I participated. I didn’t do any of the torturing though. My act was much more humane.”