Read Chapter One of Hidden Inside the Painting…

APPLE BOOKS AMAZON NOOK GOOGLE KOBO

CHAPTER ONE

Andy

By morning, the storm had passed, and Hannah’s screams had faded into groveling pleas by the time Andy dressed for work. His mind was elsewhere.

Andy had seen the town’s new detective go into the wash room at Hannah’s house. Jack Isaac had looked right into the camera set up to watch Hannah’s dog, and it almost felt like Jack could see Andy, even though that was impossible. 

Andy hadn’t told Hannah anything about it. That was her old life. He had, however, considered ending his fun with her early.

He needed to know what was going on before he made any decisions. And while he had called the station earlier to say he wouldn’t be in until after lunch, he knew that he had to get down to the station as soon as possible.

“Please, tell me how Peaches is,” Hannah cried from behind the glass. “I know you checked in on her. I just want to know if he’s okay.”

“Shut up,” said Andy, who was pulling on a freshly washed shirt. “I’m thinking!” He hadn’t expected anyone to check her home or to be that concerned so quickly. He’d chosen Hannah because she had no one, but as it turned out, someone had noticed her disappearance almost immediately. 

He finished putting on his boots and walked over to the kill-room door to look inside.

Hannah looked rough, staring back at him from where she stood inches from the door. With dark circles under her eyes and her hair being a frazzled mess, she was only a shell of the woman he had met and grown fond of.

“I told you they will notice,” she said, her voice only slightly muffled through the wall where Andy paced in front of the door. “They’re probably looking for me as we speak. You don’t have to do this. You can let me go, and I’ll say we spent the night together, and the storm put the lights out, causing the alarm clock not to work. They’ll believe it. I won’t tell, I promise.”

“No,” said Andy. “Do you think I trust you?” He had already used the power outage as his excuse for being late to work, but letting her out wasn’t an option. There was only one way out for Hannah.

Hannah’s voice continued, sounding much like a bank teller’s or a child talking through a hollow tube. “I want you to trust me. I care about you, Andy. You could get some help. I would help you.”

Andy couldn’t believe his ears. “Do I look like I want help?”

She stood with her mouth open, her lips trembling.

Andy shook his head. “It doesn’t matter. They won’t find you here. They’ll never find you.” He hoped that would shut her up. Instead, it only made her cry again.

He was exhausted, having had no sleep because of his house guest. His patience was something that had gone with the thunder and lightning hours ago. Thankfully, his adrenaline and curiosity were enough to keep him going. And if he wanted to be in the middle of it all, he had to get down to the station.

Even though he had shut off the phone to protect himself and his location, he still needed to destroy it before Jack had a chance to use it against him.

Andy hurried out of the room and took it down to the basement. With a rotary tool, he made quick work of dismantling it. He would have to dispose of it with the things he had collected from the other girls.

He took the pieces and tossed them into a bucket with the other things that needed to be disposed of. He was getting faster destroying phones—this had been his third—and he knew which parts were the ones to focus on. He was proud of himself that, in spite of the pressure, he had managed to get the task done successfully.

Things hadn’t quite gone how he thought they would. He was supposed to have more time and blamed himself for going off plan to entertain the notion that Hannah was the right woman for him.

He had let the weak side of himself come through again, getting too attached to Hannah, but he was back on track. The stronger side always shined through when it mattered. And in order to stay ahead of the game, he had put himself in the middle of the action. Thankfully, his good buddy Jack would have no problem when he showed up to help.

Looking at his own phone, he realized he had wasted enough of his morning on her phone and he’d had enough of her incessant crying. It was time to leave for work, and while he didn’t want to, he was content to leave her there. No one would be around, certainly not his only neighbor, Mrs. Culpepper.

He went back upstairs to get his keys and put them in his pocket. As he walked by the kill room, Hannah pounded on the thick plexiglass window and screamed at him. “I want to see my Peaches! Please. I need my baby! I want to see my baby!”

She wailed like a mother longing for her child, but all Andy could think was that his own mother had never cared that much about him. Another woman’s love for her dog was stronger.

Andy decided to give her something to think about while he was gone. “Your phone is in a million pieces, Hannah. Be grateful you’re not. Now shut up.”

Hannah began to scream in terror, and while Andy would normally like that, he had other things to take care of.

Andy pounded his fist up against the window, which caused her to back away. “I said shut the fuck up!” Not even in dealing with Cierra and Brynlee had he sounded like such a demon. But Hannah was more fragile than both. And while her sweet disposition had been nice in the beginning, she now only reminded him of a pig being led to slaughter.

Hannah cowered away into the far corner as Andy put his face to the window and gave her a harsh look.

“I need to pee,” she said, glancing up at him with those big blue eyes. “Please let me out! I’ll be good, I promise. I just need to pee.”

Andy wasn’t going to take a chance of letting her out of there just yet. He had to get to work and see what the hell was going on at her house. “If you’re good, I’ll take you later. But not until you settle down. I’ll bring you food and water, but only if you’re good. So, sit there and shut your fucking mouth before I shut it for you!” 

He slammed his fist one more time and watched as she winced with fear. Hannah covered her head and pulled her knees in closer, as if making herself into a ball would protect her. But Andy already knew how it had to end.

But not until he had his fun.

Something had to make all the work he had done worth it.

But there was no time to think about that. It was time for him to focus on the next steps and get to work.

Andy left the house and listened for a bit while outside the door to make sure that no one could hear Hannah, who was no doubt still making some sort of noise from inside her box, whether it be pounding or screaming.

And while Andy had done his best to soundproof it, it wasn’t until he locked her up in there that he realized just how loud her screams could be.

But he couldn’t hear anything.

Leaving her there made him nervous, but he was confident that she wouldn’t be able to get out, if she even tried. He hadn’t made it known that he was going to be far, so he doubted that she would dare to take that chance.

He went to the truck and shut the door as he glanced toward Mrs. Culpepper’s house. He had thought about hiding her body where it wouldn’t be found but decided the best way to deal with her was to not deal with her at all.

Instead of being held up by her, he placed her back in her home, laying her out on the floor where he would say the heat of the sun had taken its toll on her.

There was no telling how long the woman would lie there until someone came along to find her. Sunday church services were almost a week away, and he knew that it might seem suspicious if he let it go that long. But with Hannah alive and kicking in his house, the idea of Jack Isaac and other cops being in such close proximity made him nervous.

Andy drove across town to the station. Once he parked and went inside, he found Chief Pellerin pacing his office with a phone to his ear.

“Is he sure about that?” he asked, raking his hand through his thinning hair. “How can he be so positive about such a thing? This woman has most likely gone off somewhere. Maybe she had a family emergency and didn’t have time to call anyone about it. I think it’s a little premature, but I’ll do what you want.” He glanced over at Andy and gave a nod as if he was glad to see him. “We’ll get right down there.”

When he hung up the receiver, Andy walked over to pour himself a cup of coffee. It was just what he needed to help him stay awake. “What was that all about?”

“Oh, Jack Isaac thinks he’s found another missing woman.”

“He found a body?” asked Andy, playing dumb.

“No. Get the truck. I’ll explain on the way.” Pellerin looked annoyed, but Andy was excited to be going. Anytime he could go to an active crime scene, it would give him clues on Jack’s mindset, and that would allow him to stay one step ahead.

Andy did as he was told, taking the coffee with him, which he sipped as quickly as he could without burning his tongue.

When he had the truck pulled around, Pellerin walked out and got into the passenger seat beside him. “I’ll put the address in the GPS so we can find it. I tell you what. I hope he’s right. If not, he’s sure going to look like a fool. Hell, it might serve him right and get him off of his high horse.”

Andy didn’t need a GPS to find his way to Hannah’s house, but he agreed with him, knowing he was already annoyed with him for missing half a day at the station. 

“You said you’d explain about the woman,” Andy reminded him. “I know you’re sore at me, but at least tell me what’s going on.”

Pellerin waved his hand. “I’m not sore. The damned storm knocked out my air unit. I have to get it fixed.”

“I see. Yeah, I don’t think any of us were ready for that storm. It sure came out of nowhere.” He was ready to steer the conversation back to the matter at hand. “So, where are we going?”

“Oh, it’s just some schoolteacher who no-showed at work, and now Isaac is having a fit. I swear, with all the gossip and nonsense going around, I guess he’s starting to believe it too.”

“That doesn’t sound like Jack,” said Andy. “To be fair, someone else had to report it. Maybe he has other evidence.”

“The school principal called it in,” said Pellerin. “He’s about as dramatic as half those women teachers he oversees. Bunch of gossiping hens.”

Pellerin wasn’t usually so down on everyone, but he disliked Jack and anything that would put him out of his office for the day. 

“Did you talk to Detective Isaac?” he asked, knowing that it was someone else on the phone when he walked in.

“No. The sheriff called me. He said there was already a crowd forming at this woman’s house. News is spreading fast, and he’s asking for us to come in and do what we usually do. You showed up at just the right time.”

“Well, hopefully, the day will get better,” said Andy. “I’m glad to help. I just hope it’s all for nothing. The last thing we need around here is another murder.”

“Well, it’s only a matter of time before Jack is knocked down a peg, and if he’s wrong about this one, he’s going to have a hell of a lot of explaining to do.” Pellerin seemed as though that wouldn’t bother him one bit, and Andy figured he was still sore at him for helping Andy get promoted.

As he continued toward the scene, Andy couldn’t wait to see Pellerin’s face when he realized Jack was right.