Chapter Thirty
Beau Willow
February 2023
Wednesday — 7:21pm
Thesongontheradio had reached its end, and Beau didn’t want to listen to anymore music. He just wasn’t in the mood, not after the stress of figuring out how to reach Amelia without tipping off the police. He wasn’t even sure that he would be able to send her back to the nursing home to leave his calling card. The building was sure to be placed under surveillance now that Brooklyn Sloane’s firm, the FBI, and the police knew of his plans.
Brooklyn Sloane.
That bitch was the reason that he had to stop once again.
He’d gone dormant for three years, which meant that he could do it again.
Beau glanced over his shoulder to find Amelia Jennings still quietly crying. He’d tied her wrists and ankles with zip ties, as well as shoving a rag into her mouth. It held no significance. He was cutting corners, and he didn’t like how it left a bad taste in his mouth.
They had at least another ten minutes of driving time.
He should have already been back to his apartment. Hell, he should have been at Amelia’s home setting up another test of her devotion.
Unfortunately, nothing had gone as planned.
It had taken some doing, but he’d managed to have a family member of a nursing home resident deliver a note to Amelia. She’d been instructed to bring it with her so that the FBI couldn’t trace anything back to him. He’d learned that threats usually worked to lure women away from public areas, and this time had been no different.
Only this timemightbe different on a much larger scale.
Beau gripped the steering wheel in frustration. He so longed for his usual routine, but he was afraid that he wouldn’t get to experience the rush of satisfaction this time around.
He consoled himself with the fact that he’d been able to fool the initial agent on the case three years ago. He could do so again. Technically, he already had, because the police had no idea that he was behind the cleansing of sinners. He needed it to stay that way.
Brooklyn Sloane and her colleague had even been in his apartment. He’d gotten through their questioning like a pro with the added bonus of convincing Levi Kittle to join them.
Levi had been so gullible back in high school. Nothing had really changed in the years following their graduation. If things worked out the way Beau had planned, the police would focus the investigation on Levi.
Of course, law enforcement would never be able to prove a thing. He hadn’t left one shred of evidence behind.
Eventually, Sloane and the FBI would move onto another high-profile case. With Beau taking another break, the heat would eventually die down to where he could eventually pick back up in a year or two. What he was doing for the nursing home was good work. He should be prided on his mission, not punished. If his hand was forced, he would simply move on to another facility when the time was right.
Beau had his father to thank for opening his eyes to what was really happening in those sterile places disguised as some type of safe haven for the elderly.
His dad had married a woman twenty years younger than him. By the time that Beau had been born, his father had already been in his early sixties. One would think having a toddler to run around after would keep one healthy, but that hadn’t been the case. There had been a lot of health scares and hospital stays that had preceded the eventual need for twenty-four-seven care, which was when Beau had come face-to-face with reality.
Beau and his mother had toured many care facilities in their bid to find a nursing home that would help take care of his father. After talking with many of the residents, they had finally come to the decision that home care would be best. Some of the residents hadn’t seen their family members in weeks or months under the guise that they’d been busy or that their schedules hadn’t afforded them the time.
Lies.
All lies.
He recalled Jonas Davies, who had been one of the residents of the nursing home.
Beau had asked if the man had any family, and Jonas had responded with a miserable shake of his head. The old man had then spoken of a young girl—Grace—who he had thought of as a daughter.
It was then that Jonas had shared the painful truth about Grace.
The woman had only been by to see Jonas a handful of times over the years. Of course, he’d made excuses for Grace at first. It had been sickening, to be honest. It had been one of the reasons that Beau had thought about Jonas Davies for weeks before making the decision to seek Grace out for her sin of emotional privation.
One thing had led to another, and Beau had ended up formulating a plan after meeting Grace. She’d been stunningly beautiful, and he had tried his best to find such beauty beneath the surface. He’d truly thought his influence over her would get her to see the error of her ways, and he’d used every method of persuasion to get the job done…even marriage.