Total pages in book: 64
Estimated words: 61054 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 305(@200wpm)___ 244(@250wpm)___ 204(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 61054 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 305(@200wpm)___ 244(@250wpm)___ 204(@300wpm)
“It’s very hard to argue with you when you’re logical.”
“Why would you want to argue with your new husband?”
“For the same reason you enjoy arguing with me. The endgame.”
His eyes light. “Yes. There is the endgame.”
He’s thinking about sex. I’m thinking about catching killers.
My phone buzzes with a text message and a series of images follow from Tic Tac. I click on the message to find the victims’ names, ages, sex, and race. They’re all white. All under thirty and was having sex with a twenty-one-year-old. I’d bet money he was her professor. Next, there is a picture of a man who sums up my visual of Jack. He’s sporting wavy, slick-backed hair, a sculpted but somehow weak jawline, and glasses.
Age: 36
Single, never been married
Parents are both dead, and both were teachers at a local private college
Which could be why he’s killing people there, I think, or it could be why he’s obsessing about the case. That and the horror movie connection.
I read on.
Forensics for one year.
I roll my eyes. And he thinks he knows how to do the job better than the detective?
Chemist, with a Ph.D. who worked at NYC Health and Hospitals right out of college until last year.
The makings of a killer who knows how to clean up after himself and kill with finesse.
The SUV halts. “This is where the yellow tape starts,” Kit announces.
I slide my phone into my jeans pocket and glance forward, eyeing the chaos before me. Police cars block one area, tape, and manpower, another. People crowd the area in hopes of nosing about. Yep. Home sweet home. There’s a knock on Kane’s window, three short taps followed by two long ones. It’s code to let us know it’s one of our own who’s arrived. Still, I retrieve my weapon from inside my purse. Kane rolls down the window and Jay appears, offering us a big grin.
Jay’s a good guy who once took a bullet for me, and I remind myself of this often, because sometimes his way of protecting me is being stupid. I like him. I do not like stupid.
“Who died?” he asks.
“Not you while we were gone,” I say. “Good work.”
He scowls. “Are you ever going to let me forget what happened with the Umbrella Man?”
He means Roger. Roger was the Umbrella Man. “If I do, you’ll be dead.”
Kane opens the door. He’s no longer wearing a coat, his big body enduring the blunt cold with nothing more than a navy sweater and jeans. I man up and get rid of my coat as well. It’s not like I can take it inside the building, but damn it, I wish I had a shoulder strap. For now, the gun I’ve now retrieved from my purse will be riding dirty, without protection.
I shove the gun in my waistband and step outside, only to discover the full-on nighttime hour upon us now, the darkness cloaking us in night. It’s damp and cold, and when the wind gusts around us, Jay curses with the bite of its presence.
“Suck it up, buttercup,” I say. “You’re alive to feel the cold. That’s one better than the person we’re about to go visit.”
“We?” Jay asks. “I’m not going in there with you.”
“You are,” I say. “I’ve decided I need someone to watch my back while I talk to dead people. The good news is, remember that whole ‘I see dead people thing’? After today, you can say that in a really strange voice, and freak people the fuck out. It’s a really good trick at a family get-together when you just want the hell out of there, but I’ll show you how to do it in a public place soon.” I motion to the trunk. “My field bag has tricks in it that will get you out of there faster. It’s in my small suitcase.”
His lips press together. “I’ll get it.” He hurries toward the end of the SUV.
“You aren’t going to scare him off with dead bodies,” Kane comments dryly.
I step in front of him for impact. “I know you don’t know me well, we just met, and I’m new to you, but me, a crime scene, and a dead body can be memorable.” I don’t wait for his reply. “He doesn’t belong in the middle of our life, this kind of life.” I don’t explain my meaning. He knows I mean murder and mayhem.
“He took a bullet for you,” he points out.
“You’re too motivated by my safety right now. It was an unnecessary bullet.”
“I’m never too motivated where your safety is concerned. He cares about you. He will fight for you. He works well with you, Lilah.”
“I can manage someone else.”
“Who you might shoot,” he argues.
“Only if they deserve it,” I assure him.
“You won’t shoot Jay,” he counters.
Jay picks that moment to return, which prompts me to reply with, “Never say never.” I snag my bag from Jay and slide it on my shoulder. “I see dead people. I need to go have a chat with one of them.”