She nodded her head once, but he could tell it wasn’t okay. Aidan kissed her cheek. She continued to glare at the enlarged screen, her arms crossed tightly against her chest. Her lips curled into a scowl.
Aidan never liked it when Cheyenne was mad at him, but right now, catching the one responsible for the deaths of more than fifty women took precedence. He'd have to deal with Cheyenne’s wrath later.
39
Thomas Blake’s house stood in the middle of his land, a few trees scattering the area. It was a two-story brick house, four white columns holding the roof of the porch intact. The upkeep told Aidan that he—or someone at the least—kept it clean. The grass was freshly cut, the flowers recently watered.
There was a large pond in the front, and a tackle box sitting next to a small deck.
Aidan recognized the house immediately as the one in the photo in Jordan Blake’s home office.
According to the real estate archives, the house on Mike Padgett Highway had been in the Blake family for at least three generations. On the drive over, Douglas informed him that Thomas didn’t live in the house—he had bought another one in North Augusta with his wife. He’d been renting it out for a few years.
Looking around the area, Aidan agreed with Douglas that it seemed to be the perfect spot to take victims and murder them. No neighbors to hear the screams and it looked normal enough for passersby to not give it a second glance.
If Aidan were a killer, he decided he'd want to operate at a place just like this.
With that thought in mind, he slipped on a vest and held his weapon at the ready.
Douglas and Aidan were stationed at the front door along with four other agents. Douglas signaled for a few of the men to survey the backyard to be sure there wouldn’t be a chance for the offender to escape.
Two agents held a battering ram at the ready, preparing to rush the door when ordered. The other two held their weapons in front of them.
Douglas nodded his head twice at Aidan to signal him to take charge.
Aidan rapped the doorframe. “FBI! We have a search warrant!”
He tried one more time to no avail.
Aidan gripped his weapon.
Took a breath.
Standing on the side of the doorframe, he looked behind him and nodded to the men holding the ram.
On that note, they crashed through the door and the agents entered the premises.
“FBI!” an agent shouted.
They scattered throughout the house, looking through every room on both floors. The silence was deafening, and after Aidan cleared his part of downstairs, he regrouped with Douglas in the kitchen.
Upstairs, an agent shouted out, “All clear!”
“All clear,” Shaun said as he entered the kitchen behind him.
“Want to bring Thomas in for questioning?” Douglas asked.
“Yeah.” Aidan looked out the window across the vast backyard. “I don’t think it’s a coincidence we found this place.”
Douglas nodded. “I agree.”
Aidan waited as he got on the phone to put in a request for someone to bring Thomas in for questioning. Shaun rummaged through a stack of papers on the counter.
“Looks like someone named Ron lives here,” Shaun muttered. Without looking away from the pile, he passed Aidan a note.
Ron—
Let me know if there’s anything you need. Here’s my address to send your first month’s rent.
They didn't see any other mail for Ron or a last name for him.
As Douglas spoke into the phone, the radio on Aidan's shoulder came alive and someone announced they had found something in the back room.
Exchanging glances with Douglas, they made their way to the back of the house.
Entering the room, Aidan saw that someone had pulled back the red rectangle rug, revealing a trap door.
“It was like this when we came in,” an agent said.
Interesting.
Aidan knelt and steadied the hatch, and Shaun followed suit.
Putting a finger to his lips to indicate to be as quiet as possible, he wrapped his fingers around the latch and pulled open the door. It made a soft creak as it revealed stairs leading into the darkened cellar.
There were no other sounds, and Aidan grabbed his flashlight and shined it below. Motioning for the other agents to stand guard, he silently told Shaun to follow.
Using the beam as a guide, Aidan slowly began to descend, trying to reduce the amount of creaks as possible.
40
He was IN the process of preparing for the arrival of his next victim when he first heard the footsteps above him. He slipped on his hat, turning the bill downward so it’d cover his eyes. Next, he switched the lights off in the cellar.
He didn’t know how they managed to find him so soon, but that didn’t matter now. He needed to take care that he didn’t get caught.
His heart thrummed in his chest as he stood in the shadows, remaining quiet in hopes that the agents wouldn’t find the hatch in the back room of the house.
He held a knife in one hand and a taser in the other.
His mind raced as he tried to figure out a way to escape without being caught. There were no windows, nor was there a door in the cellar—the only way out was the stairs. And now the trap door slowly opened, revealing light from above.
He moved behind a nearby chifferobe and peered over the edge, taking in his surroundings.
There was a fuse box on the opposite side of the room.
Next to it was a table that held a few homemade gadgets, including a smoke bomb.
Yes, that should do the trick.
He only had to get over there and turn off the lights for the rest
