Silent Storm. Amanda Stevens

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СКАЧАТЬ and sliding on her own wet porch before finally disappearing inside the house a minute or two later.

      Marly stepped inside Morales’s house, pausing just across the threshold to get her bearings. The front entrance opened directly into the living room, which was separated from the eat-in kitchen on the right by a bar. A windowless door next to the refrigerator led out to the carport, and to the left, a narrow hallway trailed back to the bathroom and bedrooms.

      “Ricky? You in here?” she called nervously.

      The house was very quiet. Marly couldn’t even hear the usual household noises—the humming of the refrigerator, the ticking of a clock. Even the sound of the rain was muffled.

      No music, either, she noticed. That was almost a relief.

      But…there was something strange about the silence. Something…unnatural. It was as if everything inside Ricky’s house had suddenly stopped working.

      Resting her hand on her weapon, Marly crossed the room to peer down the murky corridor. “Ricky? It’s Deputy Jessop. You in here?”

      Still no answer.

      Sweat beaded on Marly’s forehead as she started down the hallway. The door at the far end was slightly ajar, and as she approached it, the smell grew stronger, making her gag.

      Pulling her shirt over her nose and mouth, Marly tried to work up her courage. She had a job to do. She was an officer of the law, and it didn’t matter that the most dangerous call she’d been on thus far in her short career with the Mission Creek Police Department was chasing down a pair of ten-year-old shoplifters at the Giant K. All that was about to change, and Marly knew she had to somehow rise to the occasion.

      But the smell. She could feel it oozing into her sinuses, into her pores, even into her hair shafts. She’d heard about that smell from some of the veterans who taught at the academy. They’d talked about how it was unmistakable from any other scent, how it was almost impossible to get rid of once it got on you. How you were never able to forget it.

      Don’t think about that now, a little voice warned her.

      She tried to put herself on autopilot as she used the toe of her shoe to push open the door. The room was even darker than the rest of the house. She got out her flashlight and switched it on, then played the beam inside the room.

      She couldn’t say she was surprised by what she found. On some level, she’d been expecting it. Dreading it. Preparing herself for it. But that didn’t make the scene any less horrifying.

      Ricky Morales lay slumped on the bed, his face mercifully hidden from Marly’s view. But the gruesome splatter on the wall just above the headboard told her more than she wanted to know.

      Chapter Two

      Staggering back from the room, Marly clapped a hand to her mouth.

      Oh, man. Oh, no.

      She squeezed her eyes closed, trying to ward off the nausea. Trying to block out the revulsion.

      But it was too late. She was going to be sick. Collapsing against the wall, she tried to fight it.

      What am I doing here? she wondered frantically. What had possessed her to enter law enforcement in the first place? She’d never had a burning desire to be a cop. It wasn’t some lifelong dream of hers. She wasn’t remotely suited for the job, and everyone in town knew it. She’d put in for the opening at the police department because after leaving her last position so abruptly, she’d desperately needed a job. Any job.

      And then with just eight weeks of training at the Texas Law Enforcement Training Academy in San Antonio under her belt, they’d pinned a badge to her chest, strapped a .38 onto her hips and called her a deputy. But that didn’t mean she was qualified. That didn’t mean, even after nearly a year on the job, she was equipped to deal with the bloody mess inside that bedroom that had once been Ricky Morales’s face—

      But she had to deal with it. She had to do something. Call for backup. Secure the scene…

      A subtle noise somewhere nearby brought Marly’s head up with a jerk. She couldn’t tell what the sound was or even where it had come from, but the sudden knowledge that she was no longer alone chilled her blood.

      She eased herself away from the wall and for the first time in her short law enforcement career, drew her weapon.

      Heart pounding, her mouth dry with fear, she peered down the murky hallway toward the living room.

      Someone was there. No doubt about it. She could see his silhouette at the end of the corridor. His features were indistinguishable, but he appeared huge as he started toward her.

      Marly clutched her weapon with both hands. “Police! Stay right where you are!”

      To her immense relief, the man froze. He didn’t so much as move a muscle that Marly could see, but she could feel his gaze on her. Dark. Intense. Cold. Gooseflesh prickled along the back of her neck.

      “Hands behind your head,” she barked. “No sudden moves.”

      Slowly he lifted his hands and clasped them behind his head.

      Still gripping her weapon, Marly inched toward him. “Who are you?”

      “Deacon Cage.” His voice was deep and smooth. A little too smooth, Marly decided.

      “What are you doing here?” she demanded.

      “I’m looking for Ricky Morales.”

      “He a friend of yours?”

      “Not exactly. He didn’t show up for work this morning so his boss sent me over here to check up on him.”

      “This boss have a name?”

      “Skip Manson. He’s a job foreman for Satterfield Construction. They’re building the new gymnasium at the high school.”

      By this time, Marly was standing only a couple of feet from the stranger, and what she saw when she glanced up caused her heart to skip a beat. Dark hair. Dark eyes. High cheekbones and a well-shaped mouth. A chiseled jawline and a strong, determined chin.

      Not bad, Marly thought. Not bad at all.

      The stranger lifted a quizzical brow, as if he could tell exactly what she was thinking.

      He couldn’t, of course, but heat washed over Marly’s cheeks just the same. To cover her embarrassment, she gave him a piercing glare. “Do you always enter private residences without an invitation, Mr. Cage?”

      “The front door was open. Besides, when I saw the police car out front, I was afraid something might have happened to Morales.”

      “Like what?”

      He shrugged. “An accident maybe.”

      The way he stared down at her was very unnerving.

      It’s like he knows me, Marly thought with a shiver.

      Taking a steadying breath, she tried to disregard СКАЧАТЬ