Free Forgotten by Mariah Stewart Page B

has been waiting years to find out what happened to their son.”
    “Then surely by now they’ve accepted the fact that he isn’t coming back,” Woods said calmly. “And don’t try to play on my sympathies, I haven’t any. It only serves to annoy me.”
    “Annoy you?” She laughed hoarsely. “Trust me, Woods, before I’m through with you, you’re going to be more than
annoyed.
”
    “CO DeLuca?” Woods said over his shoulder. “I’d like to go back now. Agent Cahill is being a pain in the ass today.”
    The guard glanced at Portia with empathy. She watched Woods shuffle out, envisioning herself wrapping both hands around his neck and holding him off the floor, his short legs kicking wildly, until he gave her the name of the boy who’d shared a grave with Christopher Williams for the past decade. She’d never been one to act out against a prisoner, but if there was ever a man who had earned her wrath and disgust, it was Sheldon Woods.
    Okay, you little bastard. Don’t want to tell me his name? Fine. I’ll find out on my own, and then I’ll prosecute you for his murder. Think you’re going to play games with me? Think again, pal. This is one you will not win.
             
    P ortia sat at her sister’s kitchen table and toyed with a spear of asparagus. Given everyone’s work schedule, it was the first time since she’d arrived in town that she, Miranda, and Will had been able to have dinner together.
    “I hear Woods is a first-class asshole,” Miranda said after Portia brought her up to date on the case. “I know he got to John big-time. Genna told me once he still has nightmares about that case.”
    “Woods could definitely have that kind of effect. He is in his own class of creepiness.” Portia pushed aside her plate and rested her forearms on the table. “There’s an aura about him, a malevolence that I’ve never encountered before, and I’ve dealt with some really sinister characters over the years. But this man has no soul. He reeks of depravity.” She looked at her sister and said, “I don’t know how else to say it.”
    “I think you said it quite well.” Miranda stood and took her plate and Portia’s to the counter and set them down. “We’ve all had those cases where the suspect is so vile, so immoral, that they have a sort of malignant air about them. But from all I’ve heard about Sheldon Woods, he pretty much wins the malignancy trophy.”
    “Are you thinking it might not have been Christopher Williams in that grave?” Will said as he got up from the table and started to make coffee.
    “I have a feeling it is,” Portia told him. “They recovered a belt buckle with a
C
on it, which of course is not conclusive, but I think it’s him. We should know for certain tomorrow, though. The ME will have the dental records and that should make a positive ID easy. There will be a match, or there won’t be.” She looked up at her sister. “It’s the other boy that I keep thinking about. Woods would not—
would not
—discuss him. Said that one was his, whatever that meant. When I questioned him, he all but dared me to talk it over with a profiler.”
    “Did you?” Miranda removed the remaining vestiges of their dinner.
    “I have a call in to Annie. I’m curious to see what she has to say about him.” Portia got up, took mugs down from the cabinet, and placed them on the table.
    “Surely someone has gone over his case before?” Will asked.
    “There are several reports in the file from different psychiatrists. They all concurred that he’s a sociopath.” Portia sat back at the table and watched Will fill the coffeepot with water and pour it into the coffeemaker. “I still want Annie’s take on him, though. I mean, with all his kills, why would he be so protective of this one?”
    “Maybe he’s just playing with you. Trying to piss you off, just because he can,” Will suggested.
    “That’s a possibility, I suppose, but if you could have seen his face…”