Chapter 57

Holy shit.

Brian stepped forward. The technicians had been at work at Sarra's house for four hours. Brian had known in his gut what he would see in Sarra's basement, but it still hit him like a sledge hammer. He motioned to Phil and Billings, and the looked in the cabinets.

"Son of a bitch." Phil said.

"How long?' Brian asked one of the lab guys who poked around in the cabinet. The shelves had been sawed out, the back walls cut to allow access to the craw space beneath the house.

"I dunno." said the techie. "Three days, maybe four?"

Brian's hands balled into fist. "He was here all along, the bastard. We put Lexi here three days ago, and Brandon was already here, holed up in this cabinet where no one thought to look."

"Hey." A cop snarled. He was the one who kept an eye on Sarra the first night when Brian came by to pack her clothes. "We looked. Our guys swept the house before the Feds set up watch. Someone checks the cabinet, and he is behind it in the craw space and then he holes up in the cabinet afterwards. No way they could of found him  like that, and you fancy ass  Feds wouldn't of done any better , so get off our asses."

Brian glanced at Phil, who's face was ashen. The cop was right. No one did anything wrong. Brandon was just smart. And Patient. And now he simply walked  out the front door and driven away in a county van. He'd probably sat a block away in that Ford Escort  watching the cops chase down that teenage boy.

So close.

Brian looked back at the cabinets, situated right next to the stairwell that led to the family room. The hairs on his arms stood up. Brandon would have been here when Hannah drove up, might have walked around inside the house when Lexi was sleeping. A little freaky isn't it? She said. And even Brian thought he felt close.

"Icky." someone muttered, pulling out a plastic two liter bottle filled with yellowish liquid. "Guess it had to be a man hiding in there. Never knew a woman who could piss into a coke bottle."

"Got a piece of candy wrapper, Reese's cup.' said a technician, holding it up with a pair of tweezers. "We will get some prints, anyway."

Not that they needed any. They knew exactly who it was.

"Uh Oh." It was Harrison and Brian followed the direction of his eyes. A grey ford inched along the street, rolling through each check point with the drivers hand hanging out the window showing his shield. Sarra was in the passenger seat.

"What the hell.." Brian asked.

"I arranged it." Dean said. "She was hearing things on news, seeing pictures of her house. I thought she might be able to help."

Brian was furious. "You arranged for her to come see a woman tortured and staked out on her kitchen table?"

"I waited until Lexi's body was gone, and you can keep Sarra out of the kitchen. But this is her home. If Brandon left something behind, we need her to find it."

The ground actually swayed when Sarra got out of the car. Brian had a grip on her elbow before it stood still again.

"You okay?'

"I am fine." It was a lie, of course, and he knew it was as well as she did.

"Things are pretty well cleaned up," He told her, his voice a growl. "But stay in the workshop."

"She was killed in the kitchen?"

"Stay in the workshop, Sarra. That is where Brandon was. Help us look around. Maybe you will notice something we don't know to notice."

Sarra could feel Brandon the second she walked into the garage. That was ridiculous, and she knew it, but knowing he had been here waiting like a cockroach in the woodwork.... She walked around, looking, studying, careful not to touch anything. A couple of crime lab technician's still went about their jobs with quiet attention to detail as Sarra walked over to the cabinet where Brandon had been. Sawdust on the floor.

She looked inside the cabinet, trying to imagine an average size man inside. Possible, but not comfortable, and the craw space behind it acted almost like another room under the porch. In the floor, something caught her eye, A little steel pin, half of an inch long, the diameter of a needle. She reached for it.

"Wait." A woman said behind her. Sarra looked up and saw gloves and a flashlight, the tweezers in her hands."I will get it."

"Sorry," Sarra said stepping back

The woman knelt down and picked up the pin with the tweezers, dropping it into a small plastic bag that had already been labeled.

"Do you know what it is?" Brian asked.

Sarra frowned, shaking her head. She couldn't seem to clear the haze. " It could of come from anything. It might have been there for years, for all I know."

"OK.' He said taking her arm again."Come on I am getting you out of here."

"I need to go upstairs."

"No Sarra You don't"

"She..I mean Agent Lexi, her body___"

"Gone. But there is still no reason for you to go in there."

"It is my home Brian, My world," she said the back of her eyes prickling,"I need to see what that bastard has done to my world."

Sarra had bought this home for the kitchen. Not that she was any great cook or anything, because for a while it was all she could do to make macaroni and cheese from a box or microwave a hot dog. But she had always loved this kitchen. It was right in the middle of the house, where a family kitchen ought to be. Sunny and Bright, with pale lemon walls, hand painted accents on the the woodwork, and beautiful tile. It was the place everyday started and wound to a close with Abby, the site of water coloring and homework and games of gold fish. The place life happened.

And now death.

Her knees locked. Breath. There was no body, no blood, no weapon. The room had been put back together with careful precision, everything in its place amid a deathly stillness. All four chairs were pushed neatly under the table, even the center piece had been replaced. As if the crime scene lab people had been preparing for company, she thought ridiculously.

Except that was the problem. Sarra's kitchen never looked like comapny was coming. The centerpiece was always pushed to the end, so Abby had room to paint or mold play do. And one chair was kept in the far corner, so Abby could drag it to the counter when there was something to stir, or when she wanted to help with measurements.

It's just a room, Just a___

'Enough." Brian pulled her out, bringing her through the foyer and out the front door. "Are you satisfied? Did standing there staring prove your strong enough to take it?"

She looked up, there were two of him.  and Stard seemed to be hovering in multiples in the background. Sarra closed her eyes, took three long breaths before she opened them.

"Abby___"

"Is fine. I have been calling Jacksonville every twenty minutes all day. Our people are all around."

"Your people were all around Lexi too."

Brian cursed. Rubbing a hand over his face. "Brandon was in here first. He must of holed up while we were still in Jacksonville Wednesday night, getting the story. He set himself up in your workshop and waited. The cops swept the house, but even if they checked cabinets you kept them locked, he already had it so he could be out of sight."

"He thought it was me?"

"No he knew Lexi was a set up. She was apart of his plan."

"Was Hannah apart of his plan too?"

"Probably, though he couldn't have known which employee would be driving when the joint gave out. He just knew it would happen to someone you worked with."

Sarra stepped away, looking at nothing. Her skin felt as if little creatures were burrowing just beneath the surface. Brandon had penetrated her world. He had been at the antiques shows, at the gallery, and here at her home. Listening. Watching. Planning.

Killing.

A shout went down the street. An officer in uniform ran up the hill. "Lieutenant, lieutenant." He jogged  toward Phil.

Phil started out to meet him. From another direction the FBI agent in charge , Dean Sarra thought also jogged over. A little commotion had erupted where the ups truck was trying to get through. The driver was shouting at the police officer.

Brian followed Phil , Sarra followed Brian, The uniform cop was panting. "The Ups guy down here has a package for this address. Said it needed signature, came from high priority. Second day air."

Everyone looked at Sarra. "Were you expecting anything?"

"No. not unless Mrs Chadborne sent another doll. I haven't heard from her."

The officer shook his head. "Its not from Boise. It is from Charleston. The return address says Wake ford or Waterford or__"

Waterford?" Sarra asked

"That is it, Waterford."

Sarra shook her head. "Daniel would of let me know if he was sending anything. I don't know what it is."

She saw Brian, Dean, and Eddie all share a glance, then Agent Dean said. "Let's find out.'

They gathered at the driveway, noticed the media, and moved inside Sarra's workshop. A woman wearing a county ID tag and rubber gloves set the box on one of Sarra's counters. There was a few moments of discussion and a careful examination of the box itself, then, apperently satisfied that it wasn't a bomb, the woman received the go ahead to slice through the package tape with a knife. Brandon, Sarra thought bitterly would have approved of all the ceremony.

Everyone held their breaths as the box flaps  were lifted. A folded piece of paper sat on top of the packing paper, some Styrofoam peanuts falling out when the technician picked it up. She handed the paper to Agent Dean.

"It is a sales receipt." He said. "Six grand at a store called Days go by. For an 1873 Benoit, it says."

"That is Daniels store," Sarra said. "but I didn't order anything from there."

"No Mrs Chadborne did. She gave this as the shipping address. It was dated two days ago, Saturday.

Sarra reached for the receipt, but Dean pulled it back, and the woman with gloves held open a Ziploc bag. He dropped it in. Went back to the box and gently pulled the doll out.

Sarra watched. Her mind in a jumble. Maybe Mrs Chadborne had bought a doll from Daniel and wanted it to be included with the others. An 1873 Benoit wasn't in the same leagues as the one her husbands had left her. But perhaps she didn't know that. Maybe___

"Sweetie." Brian was at her side. "What is the matter?"

She swallowed, feeling as if a breeze could topple her.

"Oh Mrs Chadborne what have you done? "I know that doll. Its not a Benoit, It is a fake