Past Imperfect Read online

  White had never been convicted of assaulting a woman much less murdering one. And over the years he and his wife had captured or killed many serial killers. Among them were Monarch and Numerical. To the public and numerous law enforcement agencies, Mr. White was a man to be admired. The trio lurking outside his house were certain that his public persona was a disguise that hid his true self. White wasn’t a man to be well-regarded, he was a monster who needed to be eradicated. He was a killer of women, and God only knew how many victims there were in his past.

  White emerged from the house dressed in black jogging pants and a matching hoodie. The dog was absent and that was a good thing. No one had wanted to hurt the dog, but they had a can of bear repellent handy in case it was needed.

  White was a tall man who was in great shape but not overly muscular. In his youth he’d been an undefeated mixed martial artist. That was when the sport was in its early days in the United States.

  One of the men was bearded. He was watching White through binoculars and had also competed in mixed martial arts. He was a good ten years younger than White and was packed with muscle. He figured that he could take the man down easily if things got physical. Of course, they weren’t supposed to get physical. That was why they were carrying Tasers.

  They wanted to take White alive. Once he was in their custody he would be questioned. Tortured might be a better word, but that was up to him. If the bastard cooperated and confessed to his crimes, things would go much easier for him.

  White finished stretching in preparation for his run. As he had the previous times they had watched him, he took off through the woods while running along an old deer trail. The two men and the woman were farther along that trail and concealed behind trees. Each was armed with a pistol and a Taser. There was a four-wheel drive vehicle parked several hundred yards away near the edge of the trees that bordered a highway. Once he was bound, gagged, and blindfolded, the men would carry White to the vehicle and watch over him while the woman drove.

  “Get ready,” whispered the other man. He was black, an inch shorter than the bearded man, but in great shape. He had boxed as a teen and later went on to college on a full academic scholarship.

  White was nearing their position and would soon be in range of the Tasers. If one of them missed, then the others would make sure to nail him. To avoid hitting him at the same time, they had worked out a firing order. First the woman would attempt to take him down, followed by the black man, then the bearded man. If they all failed to strike White and disable him, they’d pulled their sidearms and would threaten to kill him if he didn’t comply with their orders.

  The woman slid her finger onto the trigger of her Taser as she heard White’s footsteps growing closer. She was in her early forties with blonde hair and blue eyes. She was about to step out into the open and confront White when she felt a stabbing pain in the back of her left thigh. It felt like a bee sting. That was unlikely given that it was November, and the temperature was only a few degrees above freezing. The woman reached back with her free hand and felt a tubular object. At the same time a feeling of great weariness came over her.

  “What’s wrong?” asked the bearded man. He’d been waiting for her to make her move on White then saw her grab at the back of her leg.

  The woman opened her mouth to speak and her eyes fluttered as she fell to her knees. Nearby, the black man was doing the same. There was something sticking out of the side of his neck. It looked like a dart with a small glass bottle attached.

  The bearded man looked about and saw no one. Before he could react, he realized that White was almost even with his position. He had been set to fire last, but he had his Taser in his hand and was ready to complete their mission. He stepped out of hiding and found that White was only a few feet away. The man was holding a weapon of his own. It was a tranquilizer gun.

  The dart struck him just beneath the right side of his chin as he fired the Taser at White. White dodged the weapon’s twin barbs and they landed impotently upon a pile of leaves. Then came the feeling of drowsiness and the inability to keep his eyes open. The bearded man looked at White while falling forward. White had stepped closer to catch him. As he felt himself going unconscious, the bearded man wondered if White’s intense eyes would be the last sight he ever beheld.

  Jessica White stepped out from behind a row of bushes as White’s daughter, Violet Poe, came out from the other side. She was in her twenties, tall, and with long raven hair. Jessica’s shot had taken down the woman while Violet’s had struck the black man. Both women carried rifles designed to shoot tranquilizer darts. The guns made a slight noise when fired.

  They had been lying in wait for the trio since becoming aware of them the day before. The bearded man had gotten too close and triggered a silent alarm and a camera on the previous day. The camera had a microphone that had recorded the man telling someone out of view that they would make their move the next day and snatch White.

  Jessica and her husband had been ready for them but were perplexed as to why they would want to abduct Mr. White. Their best guess had been that it was a kidnapping attempt.

  Violet checked the woman for identification and found none. The same was true for the men White frisked, although he did find a set of keys and two burner phones. The trio’s weapons were gathered up and placed in a sack, after the firearms had been unloaded.

  “What should we do with them, Father?” Violet asked.

  “I’m going to place them in the safe room below the workshop,” White said.

  Jessica pointed toward the road. “They must have a vehicle parked nearby. We need to find it and move it out of sight until we know what’s going on.”

  “I’ll do that after I—” White had stopped talking in mid-sentence. He had been looking at the woman when he realized that he knew her.

  “What’s wrong?” Jessica asked.

  White didn’t answer. Instead, he bent down and rolled up the right pant leg on the woman. On the back of her calf was a birthmark shaped like a heart. “It’s her.”

  “You know her?” Violet asked.

  White nodded, then looked at Jessica. “This woman. She’s Sienna Ross.”

  Jessica wrinkled her brow. The name sounded familiar, but she was having difficulty recalling where she’d heard it before. When she remembered, her mouth parted in shock.

  “Why would Sienna Ross be coming after you?”

  White shook his head. “I don’t know.”

  “Who is she, Father?” Violet asked.

  White stared at his daughter. She was aware that he had predatory tendencies, but she was unaware that he had ever acted upon them. He dreaded telling her how depraved he had once been.

  Jessica placed a hand on Violet’s shoulder. “It’s a long story, Violet. For now, why don’t we get these three restrained before the drug wears off.”

  “All right,” Violet said. She had sensed her father’s discomfort and it worried her. White was normally self-assured and calm.

  Violet grabbed Sienna Ross under the arms while Jessica took her legs, and then they began walking back toward the house. White, whose strength was fantastic, tossed the bearded man over one shoulder before bending his knees to reach down and grab the belt of the black man. He followed his wife and daughter while lugging both men along as if they were sacks of wheat.

  Seeing Sienna Ross again had brought back memories of how he and Jessica had met. That day had been one of the worst and the best days of his life.

  Chapter 2

  JULY 1996

  Jessica White made a left turn into the park and glided her car up the winding road that meandered through the greenery. Despite the curves and the lowered speed limit, the detour still cut a few minutes off her commute, and besides, she liked the scenery.

  As she drove, the blonde, blue-eyed teen sang along to the radio while tapping her fingers on the steering wheel.

  It was mid-afternoon, and she was on her way home from her part-time job as a cashier. On most
days, the park was loaded with people, but it was raining, had been for most of the day, and the gray skies and wet grass had all but cleared the park of its joggers, playground participants, and strolling lovers.

  As Jessica’s car climbed the hill, it began to shudder. The vibration alarmed her, but as the road leveled out at the top, the car once more settled into a smooth forward motion. However, as she made a right turn onto the lane that would take her from the park, the car gave a final quake and the engine died.

  “Noooo,” Jessica moaned, as she coasted the car to rest on the side of the road.

  After several attempts to restart the engine, she gave up and looked around.

  Green fields stretched to either side, with one much larger than the other. They were bordered by tall trees. The only person in sight was a hardcore runner, who she spotted in her rear-view mirror, but the man was running quickly down the road she had just turned off and he was out of sight in seconds.

  As Jessica was lamenting having to leave the car to walk home in the rain, a van appeared. It was an old vehicle, white, with rust beginning to show around its tarnished grille. And yet, its engine barely made a sound and its windshield wipers beat a steady rhythm, as the headlights shone bright.

  A moment later, the van’s driver was standing outside his vehicle. To Jessica, it seemed as if one moment he was in the driver’s seat, and the next instant, standing outside.

  He looked to be about her age, eighteen. He was tall, dressed in jeans and a black sweatshirt, with boots. Jessica also noticed one more thing about the boy—he was gorgeous.

  After giving herself a quick look in the mirror, she got out of her car and walked toward him, smiling. As she gave the boy a closer look, she noticed his eyes.

  Such unique eyes, she thought, even as she tried to analyze exactly what it was about them that made them so. It wasn’t their color, they were hardly a rare shade, or their shape, no, what made them unique was their intensity.

  When she reached him, he asked her if she had broken down and she told him what had happened. As they spoke, she felt her heart beat faster as those intense eyes gazed at her from that perfect face.

  When the boy suggested that he take a look at her car, she thanked him and began walking back to it. She had just begun turning her head to ask him his name when she felt the damp cloth cover her mouth and nose.

  The odor of the cloth was noxious, and she immediately had trouble breathing, even more so as she panicked and grew afraid while struggling in the boy’s grasp.

  It was useless.

  He held her easily and kept the cloth clamped over her face. As the day began to melt away, strangely, Jessica’s fear went with it, to be replaced by curiosity.

  The boy, why would he do such a thing to her? And as the darkness claimed her, one more thought raced across her mind.

  Is this the end?

  Not only was it not the end, but Jessica and her captor, a man who had planned her abduction, rape, and murder, would be together for the rest of their lives.

  THE PRESENT

  Jessica, Violet, and White were in the living room of the Whites’ home. Jessica was seated beside her husband on a sofa while Violet sat across from them on a love seat. Violet had listened in silence as White told her how he and Jessica had met. He hadn’t tried to explain his actions or recount to her his difficult childhood. He had just relayed the tale as it had happened. There was no way to sugarcoat the fact that he had abducted Jessica with the intention to rape and murder her. Violet had listened without making a comment or asking a question. White wondered if he had just destroyed his relationship with his daughter.

  He hadn’t known of Violet’s existence, or the existence of her twin sister, Viola, until a few years ago. But he loved them both and would hate to lose them.

  Violet rose from her seat to settle beside her father, then took his hand.

  White held onto her hand but felt the need to clarify what he had just told her. “You understand why I took Jessica… the awful things I wanted to do to her?”

  “Whatever your plans were that day you obviously didn’t go through with them or Jessica wouldn’t be here.”

  “I still abducted her. I had planned it for weeks in advance and carried it out.”

  “But you didn’t go too far, Father, because you’re a better man than that.”

  “I know I am now, but back then… I… I was lost in darkness.”

  “Why didn’t you harm her then?”

  “I couldn’t go through with it, not once I saw the fear in her eyes, knew the terror she was feeling. It was nothing like my fantasies and… I loved Jessica. I think I fell in love with her the second I laid eyes on her.”

  “It was mutual,” Jessica said.

  White stared at his daughter. “Can you forgive me?”

  “There’s nothing to forgive,” Violet said. “Amanda, Grandmother, she’s told Viola and I about your early childhood and how you were raised in your grandfather’s insane cult. From what she’s said, it’s amazing that you and Uncle Michael are normal at all.”

  “Michael somehow avoided being tainted by what happened. Jessica’s love saved me, but Jeffrey Mitchell, my other brother, he was a serial killer. I came very close to walking that same path.”

  Violet released his hand and stood. “You are without a doubt the best man I know. And if what you did so many years ago doesn’t matter to Jessica then it shouldn’t be the concern of anyone else.” Violet leaned over and kissed him on the cheek. “I love you, Father.”

  White felt his eyes grow moist. “I love you too, baby.”

  Violet retook her seat on the other side of the coffee table, where she had a cup of tea she’d been sipping.

  “I guess that woman in the safe room is somehow a part of your past too?” Violet asked.

  White sighed. He hated recalling his early years. Discussing them with his daughter made it even worse.

  “Before I began stalking Jessica, I had stalked Sienna Ross.”

  “And did you…”

  “No. We never had any contact. Until today I would have thought that she was unaware that I even existed.”

  “This has to be connected to your stalking of her,” Jessica said. “If not, it would certainly be one strange coincidence.”

  “What do we do with them?” Violet asked.

  “We’ll decide that once we talk to them,” White said. He then looked at his wife. “How much longer will they be out?”

  “At least for another hour.”

  White shook his head. “Whatever their reason is for wanting to abduct me it can’t be good.” His phone rang, letting him know that he had a call. He had phoned their researcher earlier for information about Sienna Ross.

  The researcher was named Carly. And her research often involved computer hacking. After marrying and moving to California years earlier, Carly later contacted the Whites and offered her services again. She was the mother of a two-year-old girl named Iris who kept her busy, but she had missed working. Acting as a researcher allowed her to work without the drudgery of committed hours and a commute. White placed the call on speakerphone.

  “Hello, Carly. Do you have something for us?”

  “Hello, sir. Yes, Sienna Ross is an FBI agent working out of the field office in Little Rock, Arkansas. She’s also a former police detective who worked in Missouri.”

  White and Jessica shared a look. Sienna Ross being an FBI agent just made things more difficult.

  Carly continued. “Agent Ross is a widow. Her husband died two years ago. He was also an FBI agent and was murdered while attempting an arrest of a dangerous suspect. I’ll send you a text with Agent Ross’s address and phone number.”

  “Thank you, Carly. We may be calling you again later.”

  “I’m always here for you and Dr. White, sir.”

  “And we appreciate it.”

  When the call ended, Jessica made an observation. “FBI agent or not, Sienna Ross can’t be here as part of an inv
estigation.”

  “Maybe the men she’s with are FBI agents as well,” Violet said.

  White stood. “We won’t get any answers until they’re awake. I’m going to the safe room. I want to be there the second they stir.”

  “I’ll come with you,” Jessica said.

  “All right, but Violet, I want you to stay here. They don’t know that you were involved in this and we should keep it that way.”

  “You think that they may cause trouble, legal trouble I mean?”

  “Maybe. Or maybe something else. There’s no way to know until we speak to them.”

  “I’ll head on over to the Prey house and visit Elena, but you call me if you need me.”

  White smiled at his daughter. “Thank you, baby.”

  Jessica and Mr. White were down in the safe room that had been built beneath the workshop White shared with his brother, Michael Storm. Michael was away on his honeymoon. He had married Summer Gray. The safe room took up over five hundred square feet with a ten-foot ceiling. To get inside it you had to climb down a ladder or use the small elevator that had recently been installed. When on the workshop level, the elevator appeared to be a large gray locked cabinet. When it was below ground, its roof blended in perfectly with the workshop’s floor. A ladder was also concealed beneath a refrigerator in the workshop that could be slid aside to reveal it.

  There were shelves along both sides of the safe room. They held canned and dehydrated food, along with bottled water. Over the years, the safe room had become more of a pantry and storeroom. Still, if it were needed as a place of refuge, the food and water would last a long time, and in one corner of the room was a bathroom. There was also a small kitchen area.

  White stared at Sienna Ross. There had been a time when he thought she was the most beautiful creature he’d ever laid eyes on. Although older and in her middle years, Sienna was still lovely, but White, no longer a disturbed youth, saw her for the woman she was and not as some sort of fantasy. It made him realize how far he had come since those dark days.