Targeted. Lori L. Harris

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СКАЧАТЬ to be damn close in order to do that,” Jack said. There was a grimness in both the words and his tone.

      Alec suspected his brother wasn’t just thinking about tonight’s assault. Jack was thinking about the monster who walked among them. What it meant for Deep Water.

      Turning, Alec glanced at his brother first, and then Martinez. The look in the tech’s eyes was wary now.

      Alec had known it would eventually get out, the people in Deep Water would learn who he was. And once they did, they would look at him differently. Just as his coworkers had treated him differently when he’d returned to duty two months after he’d buried Jill. They were comfortable looking at the dead; accustomed to facing a victim’s family. But when the victim was the spouse of one of their own? Well, that wasn’t so easy for them. It forced them to recognize that they weren’t any safer than the rest of the population. That their families were equally vulnerable. And if there was one thing no agent wanted to feel, it was pregnable.

      “Any possibility it’s a copycat?” Martinez asked.

      Alec shrugged. “The scene’s incomplete—no blood, no body—which leaves open the possibility of a copycat.”

      “But you don’t think it is, do you?” Martinez asked.

      “No. Even the best copycat killer usually makes a mistake with at least one of the props. The number of candles is the same, the brand of knife, the use of surgical tubing…”

      CALMER NOW that she was alone, Katie set down the glass of water on the side table. What was it that the police chief wanted Alec to see in her bedroom? The candles?

      She carefully tested her right cheek again, tracing the bone with only her fingertips. Yep. Still hurts. As did her neck and back and rib cage. And then there was her left knee. She flexed the joint to test it. Not as bad as it looked. Of course, come morning that might change.

      Maybe Alec was right about the trip to the hospital. And after the hospital? What then? Where would she go?

      She’d get a hotel room. There was no way she was staying in this house tonight or any other night. Maybe once the bruises faded, she’d fly out and see her parents, spend some time with them.

      She was going to get her life back for real this time. Just as she had after her sister’s death. It had taken some time and had been tough, but she’d done it. She was strong. That’s what her father claimed. Karen may have been the bold one, but Katie was the one with the real strength in the family.

      She glanced around the room. So why was she cowering here? Standing, Katie limped to the foyer entrance. She rubbed her arms compulsively, but it wasn’t because she was cold. It was just the adrenaline still kicking around her system.

      The front door was closed, but a breeze poured in through the broken glass of the upper portion. The young cop assigned to guard it stood with his back to her and didn’t look in her direction.

      She got as far as the kitchen before stopping. Glancing inside, she saw that the back door had been closed, but the chair she’d used to break the glass in the upper portion still hung there, two legs inside, two outside. She allowed her gaze to take in the rest of the room slowly. Streaks of red ran down the front of the painted cabinets. Wine, but for a brief moment it almost looked like blood.

      For as long as she could, Katie fought the urge to glance over her shoulder, then, when the small hairs at the back of her neck had climbed to attention once more, she gave in to the need. Of course, she was the only one in the room. Drawing a cleansing breath, she decided that she had every right to be nervous. That it was a perfectly normal response to what she’d been through.

      The sound and strobe of a camera flash prodded her back into the hallway and toward her bedroom. What was it that they were doing in there? How many photos could you take of candles? And then it occurred to her that maybe her attacker had come in through her bedroom window.

      The scent of candle wax lingered still, a second one accompanied it. Something sweet. She frowned. Perfume? Flowers?

      Another flare of light. She could see Martinez now, just inside the door, the camera aimed toward her bed. He wasn’t talking, but she could hear the low murmurs of Alec and his brother. Martinez looked up when she was still five feet from the opening.

      He lowered the camera. “Ma’am? You shouldn’t—”

      “What is it?”

      She hadn’t been able to see Alec from the hallway, but he managed to head her off before she could get to the door. He caught her by the shoulders and forced her backward, away from the door. His grip on her was firm but gentle. When their gazes met, she saw compassion in his eyes. She’d seen the same compassion two months ago in the eyes of the police officer who’d given her the news that the assault charges against Carlos were being dropped.

      She tried to look past Alec’s shoulder. Martinez was still taking pictures. What had happened in her bedroom?

      She forced her gaze to meet his again. He looked troubled, the lines in his handsome face more pronounced. “It would be best if you waited in the living room.”

      “Best? This is my home.” She tried to push past him again, but he blocked her. This time when their gazes met, the look in his eyes was cool, remote. Professional. Just like the cop two months ago when he’d explained how restraining orders rarely worked, that a self-defense course and a thirty-eight would be more effective when it came to protecting herself. She’d taken the course, but had refused to buy a gun.

      “You shouldn’t go in there, Katie. You have to trust me on that.”

      “Why? What’s in there? What could be any worse than what has already happened to me tonight?” Even as she said it, she knew she wasn’t being rational. If they were trying to keep her out, there was a reason. And that reason was that they didn’t think she was strong enough to handle it.

      She lifted her chin. “I’m not some weak female. If I was, I wouldn’t be standing here. I’d be huddled out there on that couch where you left me.” Raising her hands, breaking his hold on her, she backed away from him, and he let her go. “I’ve had a bad time of it. I admit that. But I’m strong enough to face whatever is in that room.”

      Though he continued to block her way, he suddenly looked very tired. Worried.

      “Whatever is in there, Alec, can’t be any worse than what’s going through my mind right now.”

      His jaw hardened and the look in his eyes became one of unwilling acceptance. He wasn’t happy about her insistence, but he would comply. “Are you sure, Katie? Really sure?”

      “Yes.” But she wasn’t.

      As Alec started to step past his brother, Jack stopped him. “She’s been through an awful lot already.”

      “I know. But daylight won’t make it any easier. It doesn’t end for her here tonight. It’s just the beginning.”

      Those confusing words echoed in her mind as she forced herself to take the final step.

      The white candles were the first thing she saw—not the one or two she’d expected, but too many to count—and then the rose petals, splotches of blood spattered across snow. Katie backed away a half step. She didn’t own white sheets. СКАЧАТЬ