Red Red Rose Read online

  Red Red Rose

  Stephanie Hoffman McManus

  Copyright © 2016 by Stephanie Hoffman McManus

  All rights reserved by the author, including the right to reproduce,

  distribute, or transmit in any form, by any means.

  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, organizations, places, events and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

  For Mom and Dad

  Thanks for buying me all

  those Nancy Drew books.

  Contents

  Prologue

  One

  Two

  Three

  Four

  Five

  Six

  Seven

  Eight

  Nine

  Ten

  Eleven

  Twelve

  Thirteen

  Fourteen

  Fifteen

  Sixteen

  Seventeen

  Eighteen

  Nineteen

  Twenty

  Twenty-One

  Twenty-Two

  Twenty-Three

  Twenty-Four

  Twenty-Five

  Twenty-Six

  Epilogue

  Red Red Rose

  O my Luve's like a red, red rose,

  That's newly sprung in June:

  O my Luve's like the melodie,

  That's sweetly play'd in tune.

  As fair art thou, my bonnie lass,

  So deep in luve am I;

  And I will luve thee still, my dear,

  Till a' the seas gang dry.

  Till a' the seas gang dry, my dear,

  And the rocks melt wi' the sun;

  And I will luve thee still, my dear,

  While the sands o' life shall run.

  And fare-thee-weel, my only Luve!

  And fare-thee-weel, a while!

  And I will come again, my Luve,

  Tho' 'twere ten thousand mile!

  -Robert Burns

  Prologue

  My heart drummed faster as I fumbled with the keys. I bit back a curse of frustration as they slipped from my gloved fingers and fell to the floor. I bent and snatched them back up, drawing in a deep breath. I was so close. Behind this door, I would find her. The girl who was taken from me. My sweet Rose. I’d almost given up hope, but they wouldn’t keep her from me any longer. I’d gone through a lot of trouble to get here.

  I slid the key into the lock and heard the satisfying snick before I turned the handle and pushed open the door. I slipped inside and let it fall closed behind me. I couldn’t believe after all this time I was so close to her. The closest I’d been since those bastards came that day and took us both away. I withdrew the small flashlight from my pocket and clicked it on, breaking up the pitch darkness with the narrow beam of light. I drew back the mask covering my face and scanned the room. I headed for the first set of file cabinets against the wall to the left. I found them locked, but I had expected that. I searched the ring of keys and inserted the smallest one. Anticipation caught in my throat as I slid the drawer open and rifled through the files.

  It wasn’t here.

  I slammed the drawer closed and moved on to the next set, going again to the one marked G-L.

  “Hill, where are you?” I muttered under my breath as once again I came up empty. I slammed another drawer closed and moved on.

  I finally struck gold in the fourth cabinet. Sealed juvenile records. Hill. There she was. I yanked the file from its place, my heart slamming against my chest and my hands slick with sweat inside the gloves. Finally. I flipped through the pages one by one, snapping pictures on my phone until I came to the page that would lead me right to her.

  I grinned and snapped another picture and then finished flipping through her file. No time to read it now, but soon I would know everything that had happened since that day she was taken from me. Once I had pictures of each page, I returned it to its place and slid the drawer home. I pulled the dark fabric back down over my face and slipped from the room. It was only a precaution. Just in case I screwed up and managed to get caught on one of the security cameras. I was confident I had memorized the layout and could make it out of the building the same way I’d come in without being seen, but I couldn’t afford mistakes. Not when I was so close after all this time.

  A quick scan of the surrounding area told me no one was around to witness my exit at this time of night and I removed the mask, shoving it in my pocket. My truck waited down the street, behind Mac’s, where no one would think it out of place this late. My vehicle wasn’t the only one parked out back of the old bar, and a minute later I was behind the wheel and pulling the pickup out onto the quiet street, headed back toward Stacey’s.

  I pulled in next to her Prius and shut off the engine. My hands were still gloved and I didn’t bother slipping them off as I let myself back inside her cush little two bedroom. Very quietly, I closed and locked the door behind me, then slid open the drawer just inside the entryway, where she kept her work keys, and dropped them inside. She’d never even know that I borrowed them.

  Or at least she wouldn’t have.

  A light flicked on behind me and Stacey stood in the hall in nothing but her panties and a t-shirt, a slight frown on her face. “Where were you?” she asked with an edge of suspicion, and then her eyes darted to the drawer where I’d just deposited the keys. “And why did you have my work keys?”

  This was not part of the plan. She shouldn’t have woken up. I thought I’d plied her with enough wine during dinner that she should have remained passed out in bed until morning. This wouldn’t work. Already the plan was changing in my head as I took cautious steps toward her.

  “I just needed to slip out for some smokes, babe. I must have grabbed the wrong set of keys to let myself back in,” I lied even as her eyes scanned the table above the drawer to see her house key sitting right where I’d returned it as well. I didn’t need her to believe me. I just needed her to hesitate.

  She folded her arms across her chest and took in the rest of my appearance, her eyes lingering on my still gloved hands. Middle of June, I couldn’t very well use the temperature outside as an excuse. Her eyes became more guarded.

  “I’ve never seen you smoke.” She took a step back toward her bedroom, but already I was almost within reach.

  “Been trying to quit,” I said softly. “Nasty habit, but a hard one to kick.” I continued to edge closer.

  Her brow furrowed deeper in confusion. “What’s going on Robbie?” She used the name I’d given her, but it wasn’t my real name.

  “Nothing, baby. I just needed a quick peek at a file you keep locked up in the records room.”

  Her eyes went wide. “You broke into the courthouse?”

  “I didn’t have to break in. I had your keys and passcode. I couldn’t have done it without you. You’ve been so helpful, so how about now you let me reward you?” I grinned and she took another step back.

  “You used me?”

  “Why do you have to say it like that? We both had a good time. At least I know I had fun.” I watched her cringe and I thought back to earlier in the night and the other nights this week we spent tangled in her sheets, my grin spreading.

  “I want you to leave, and I’m calling the cops.” Her voice shook and I backed her into the wall. I leaned in close and she flattened herself against the hard surface.

  “You’re not calling anyone,” I whispered, grazing my lips over her jaw. She still smelled like wine and sex, and her body trembled.

  She turned her face away from me and gave my chest a weak shove. “Please just go
. I won’t tell anyone.”

  A low chuckle fell from my lips and I grasped her wrists tight in my hands. “You’re right. You won’t.”

  She started to struggle in earnest and a soft cry bubbled up. Excitement stirred in my blood, hearing her fear, knowing I was in control. I started to drag her toward the bedroom as she pleaded with me to let her go. I shoved her through the doorway and pushed her down on the bed.

  She looked up at me, tears pooling in her eyes. “What are you going to do?”

  “I told you. I have to make sure you don’t tell a soul about what I did tonight. I can’t have anyone stopping me. Not when I’m this close to finding her.”

  “Who?”

  I knelt down on the foot of the bed and she scrambled backward, but I caught her ankle. “You don’t need to worry about that. You don’t need to worry about anything anymore.”

  Terror flashed in her eyes and I watched her chest heave as she sucked in a breath, preparing to unleash a scream that might bring the neighbors running. Before she could, I was on her. My hands curled around her throat, stopping the scream. I pinned her hands beneath my knees. She fought, and twisted and bucked, but her small stature was no match for my larger one and it wasn’t long before she couldn’t keep the fight up. Tears poured from her eyes. They stared up at me pleadingly as I felt her life slipping through my fingers. It was a rush, one like I’d never felt before. Not even when I bashed that bastard’s head in. This was so much more personal. She was beautiful beneath me, her fear and tears making me grow hard against her belly. I tightened my grasp and her eyes went even wider one last time before her body became limp and all the light left her eyes.

  It was another minute before I released my hands and sat back on my heels. I gently brushed her hair off of her face. “Sorry baby, but you were never the one for me.” Her lifeless eyes gazed right through me.

  This wasn’t part of the plan, but I couldn’t deny the exhilarating rush I felt. Now there was no time to waste. I climbed from the bed and scooped her into my arms, carrying her to the bathroom, where I stripped her down and placed her in the tub. With a twist of the nozzle, the tub began filling with hot water. I removed my black leather gloves and went about wiping her body down. I’d used protection earlier, but it wouldn’t do to get slipped up leaving behind some trace of evidence. I grabbed up her clothes and stripped her bed down and tossed it all in the wash, pouring in enough bleach that if any DNA survived the wash cycle it would be useless.

  I returned to the bathroom for my gloves and then made quick work of wiping down any surface in her place I’d touched, erasing all traces of myself. I left her in the tub and then made my getaway before the first rays of dawn broke through the night sky. By the time anyone found her, I would be long gone and no one would ever know I was there. No one knew about Stacey’s dirty little secret and the guy she picked up at a bar to help her with her loneliness. Of course it was no coincidence that I was that guy. I’d watched her from the moment I knew she could get me to the file I needed.

  I hit Boise and still had the cover of darkness when I returned the truck to Mr. Edward’s garage. The old goat would wake up and find it right where he left it, never knowing I’d seen where he hid the spare key that time I fixed the garage door for him when it got jammed.

  My car was still safely up the drive, parked in front of the little shithole I rented from him. I walked the rest of the way up the drive and let myself inside the rundown shack, flipping on lights as I made my way to the kitchen. My stomach grumbled in hunger, but stronger than my hunger was my excitement. I had what I needed now. I went straight to my computer, firing it up, cursing the slow start-up. But once it was powered on and ready, it only took a few minutes of plugging names into the right places to find what I was looking for.

  Bellingham, Washington.

  Gotcha.

  I closed my laptop with a smile on my face.

  I’m coming baby. I’ll be seeing you soon, my pretty little Rose.

  One

  Bellingham, Wa

  “There have been no updates in the search for Emily Raynes, the twenty-four year old Bellingham native who went missing ten days ago. Although authorities haven’t ruled out foul play, Chief of Police, Mike Dalton, does not believe her disappearance is related to the Northwest Strangler case that has gone unsolved.” The news anchor segued into the string of murders that had rocked the area over the past several months. Four college girls in that time had gone missing from the Pacific Northwest, only to turn up dead, days or even weeks later. At least the first three. The fourth girl had yet to be found, but considering she fit the same description as the others, I didn’t think anyone was optimistic about her fate.

  “There’s been nothing new?” Cassie, one of my baristas, stood next to me behind the counter, her worried gaze also fixed on the television screen. I shook my head and then grabbed the remote, turning the volume down. I didn’t want to hear anymore, but the captioning was there for any of my patrons who were still watching.

  “I’m sure they’ll find her,” Cassie squeezed my arm reassuringly, but after almost two weeks, we’d all started to lose hope that Emily would turn up safe and sound. All I could do was nod and draw in a deep breath while Cassie turned her attention to the customer approaching the counter. I returned the remote to its place and distracted myself with checking bottles and canisters, taking note of which syrups and supplies were running low.

  “I’d ask how you’re holding up, but I think it’s pretty obvious that you’re barely hanging on,” a warm, male voice interrupted my task. “What are you even doing here?” Will asked softly when I lifted my gaze.

  “I have a business to run. Besides, sitting home, worrying is worse.”

  “The cops haven’t found any more leads?”

  I shook my head. “No. But I don’t know how hard they’re trying. I don’t think they’re convinced that she didn’t just take off.” It was frustrating as hell to know that she was out there, and the police weren’t doing everything they could to bring her home. Em’s reputation as a wild child and party girl made them skeptical.

  “You’d think with the other girls they’d take it more seriously,” Will bit out.

  “I know, but Em doesn’t fit the profile, and so far none of the girls have been taken from Bellingham. This is a college town; if people start thinking it’s unsafe, then parents will stop sending their little girls here, and we can’t have that. No, it’s easier to say she ran off, than to admit no one is safe.”

  “That’s bullshit. He’s taken girls from three different colleges. No one is safe. I don’t care about a profile. I just wish there was more we could do. She’s still out there. I mean, no one has found her– her body or anything. That’s a good sign, right?”

  I shrugged and looked down. I just didn’t know. It was true that her body hadn’t turned up at any of the sites where the other girls had been dumped, but if she was still alive, where was she? And who had her? Was she okay? Those questions threatened what little control I was hanging onto.

  “Hey, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to make this harder, I just wish I could help, ya know.”

  “It’s okay. I know. I feel the same way. Like I should be out there, trying to find her, but I wouldn’t even know where to start.” The knot in my stomach tightened at the reminder of how useless I felt.

  He set his hand on my forearm in a comforting touch. “We can’t give up. You gotta believe she’s coming home.”

  I forced a small smile on my lips. “I know. She will.” Anything else . . . A buzz in my pocket cut that thought short. Will withdrew his hand and I retrieved my phone. I swiped to decline the call as soon as I saw who it was, and shoved it back into my pocket.

  “Is he still calling you?”

  “How’d you know who it was?”

  “Your face gives you away. Guy won’t take a hint?”

  I sighed, but before I could answer, Cassie poked her head into our conversation. “Was that Dickfa
ce again?” That was the name she’d taken to affectionately calling my ex since I caught him screwing his ex, and ended things.

  “Yes.”

  She made a disgusted huff. “Want me to key his pretty Porsche?”

  Cassie was one of the sweetest girls I’d ever met; she’d been with me since Urban Grind opened its doors back in June. At no more than a couple inches over five-foot, she was hardly threatening, but I had no doubt that she would enjoy exacting a little bit of revenge on Nathan’s beloved car on my behalf. It never ceased to amaze me how much feisty God could fit into such tiny packaging. He’d also given her a double dose of sass. Her temper was the only thing that matched her size. If I had to guess where God packed all that extra attitude, I’d say in her generous bottom and bosom. They were about the only places it could fit, because everything else was tiny.

  “That won’t be necessary. I’m handling him.”

  Will let out a derisive snort and I shot him a defensive look. “I am handling him.”

  His eyebrows lifted. “Are you really? It’s been almost a month and he’s still calling.”

  “And the asshole has been leaving flowers,” Cassie added. This time I shot her the look. Will was a friend, but I didn’t want her sharing my business with everyone.

  “Flowers?”

  I sighed, “Roses started showing up on my doorstep right after I broke it off with him.”

  “Do you want me to have a talk with him?” Will offered.

  “No more than I want Cassie to scratch up his car. I appreciate you guys, but I can handle this on my own. Now you,” I turned to Cassie, “I believe there are some dishes in the kitchen that need washing.” She gave a little pout but shoved off the counter and sulked into the kitchen. “And you,” I gave Will a stern look, “must be pushing it close on your lunch break.”

  He started to say something, but the sound of the door opening drew my attention and the figure stepping inside held it. My heart did this annoying little stutter thing that happened every time this particular customer walked in since I first laid eyes on him last week.