He was going to recover, with the people he loved around him.
Tonight…was a win. They had the bad guy now.
And the good guys were going to be okay.
Chapter 47
Knight drove. Of course he did. It was all those control issues the man had. Miranda had expected no less, especially since the other alpha male in the SUV with them had taken the passenger seat. Pierce was a bit too big for the backseat. She sat in the rear like a good girl—this time.
Her legs did fit slightly better in the back there, and everything.
They’d spent the last two hours on the road debating what had most likely happened to Terra Gibson. Miranda was almost ninety percent certain there had been no sexual angle to the crime in regard to the little girl. Nothing they’d found about John had indicated pedophile.
Miranda was almost convinced John was merely punishing the women he targeted for his ex-wife’s perceived failure. And the kids he’d targeted were the tools he’d used to do that.
“What doesn’t fit with that, though…John’s sister-in-law said John said he shouldn’t have left Kora at the dock that day. So why would he be punishing his wife?” Pierce asked. He wasn’t up on all the psychological terms she and Knight were using, but that beautiful man had a mind just as quick as his sister’s. If he ever wanted to—he’d be a good profiler.
“Maybe for not keeping watch on his behavior. Blaming her for all that happened within the family, as the mother—some think the home and family is the mother’s domain. John most likely fit that type,” Knight said. “Rather than admitting he did something to hurt Kora that couldn’t be undone—either from momentary anger or he grabbed for her and she fell, or something—he lashed out and blamed his wife. Rather than admitting his own guilt.”
“His own failure became his wife’s. Because he couldn’t cope with the knowledge of what he’d done,” Miranda added.
John Stenson had lawyered up—no surprise, most killers did—but Miranda was convinced they had their man. Now they just had to tie up the angles. And that meant…searching for Terra. And searching all of his properties for other signs he was connected. The bullets and gun taken from John had been sent to the PAVAD lab special courier last night. They were just waiting on results.
Finding the killer changed the narrative, and narrowed the scope of where to look first. The other two properties the man had were closer to the crime scene, yes, but the property in Kentucky was rural, wooded, and further from where people would have recognized him. And no one would be thinking to look for a little girl there. “She may have already been dead when he loaded her into his truck and took her away. He may have killed her as expediently as he did her brother. Or as soon as he took her outside. She might have already been dead before he even touched her mother.”
“If it wasn’t about the kids at all, just…him getting revenge on the mother of his children. And then re-enacting that over and over again.” Knight’s eyes met hers in the rearview mirror. They were probably on the same wavelength there. “He might have just…gotten rid of Terra. Somewhere…near water, maybe.”
It wouldn’t be surprising to learn Terra had been drowned. That John had reenacted his daughter’s death with a child that looked like her.
“Reenacting and replacing. Over and over again. It makes sense…why it was Derek holding Cruz and not Aimee. He didn’t recognize the bond between Aimee and her son as legitimate any longer,” Knight said. “He may have even blamed his wife for his son’s death, as well.”
“And why he always antagonized his brother’s wife?” Pierce asked.
“Not because she remained friends with Crystal,” Miranda thought about it for a moment. “No. It wasn’t the friendship thing, it was that…Cass Stenson epitomized what he wanted Crystal to have been.”
“What’s that?” Pierce asked.
“A good mother,” Knight said, flatly. “Everything he never had--but his most successful brother did.”
“He was relatively young. He could have…started over,” Pierce said. “Built a different life for himself.”
“That’s not always so easy after…trauma.” Knight said. Miranda suspected he was thinking about what had happened to him. Knight never really spoke about it. It was like…the boogeyman in the room with him, she thought. He was more complicated than any other man she had met. But she’d figure him out eventually. “But…if you don’t try, you never know.”
“I suppose you’re right,” Pierce said. “It’s never easy, though.”
Miranda knew Pierce was taking the job in Texas. It would be good for him. And she was going to set Charlotte after him. It would do him good; and who knew, maybe he’d find the woman meant for him down there in Finley Creek? Miranda would profile a woman who would be good for Pierce Asher—and send it to Charlotte? Convince her cousin to help her find the woman for him?
“Here. We’re five minutes out,” Miranda said, checking her GPS. “Turn after this one. Two miles down the road, we’ll turn again right at the bridge.”
Then…they were there. A local deputy was waiting for them at that bridge. He had the search warrant. He tried to cop an attitude, until Pierce explained where the bullet in his shoulder had come from the night before. And just what exactly John Stenson had been accused of doing.
And well…Miranda played nice. And apparently made a new best friend. The deputy definitely wanted Miranda’s attention.
“I’ll do the knocking,” the deputy said.
“I’ll be with you. We need to remember, the registered owner of this house is eighty-nine years old. We don’t need to traumatize her if we don’t have to.” It was a warning, and Miranda made that clear. They didn’t need a deputy unknown to them causing chaos. People got hurt that way.
She followed the deputy up the steps to the yellow Craftsman, Pierce and Knight several steps behind her. It wasn’t a large house, but it was reasonably well-kept, especially considering the age of the owner. There were flower boxes that showed signs of recent potting soil additions and there was a heated cat box in one corner. A vintage ceramic cat watched from the corner of the porch, eyes painted bright blue.
