Midnight Sins (Midnight #2)(55)
Author: Cynthia Eden

He shook her, slamming her head back against the glass. Stars exploded before her eyes. Bloodred stars. “It takes a hell of a lot more than a few knife wounds to kill me.”

She’d see what it took, Susan thought, her world a blur of pain and blood. She’d keep stabbing him until the bastard went down.

Straining, she struggled to bring the knife between them.

He should have been weak. His blood was all around her. On her skin. Soaking her clothes. Covering the glass of the booth.

His hold tightened around her throat. The knife was slippery in her hand, wet from too much blood. If she could just—

“I’m glad you came out here, sweetheart,” he gritted the words and glared down at her with black eyes. “Nice deserted spot. No one around for miles. The perfect place to die.”

Her thundering heart shook her entire body. “Don’t! Just—”

Too late. He jerked his hand, twisting her head hard to the right and breaking her neck in one fast move.

The knife slipped from her hand and landed on the floor of the phone booth with a clatter.

He held her a moment, enjoying the feel of her twisted neck beneath his fingers. Then he smiled and let her body fall.

Todd was called to the crime scene on Thomas Boulevard the next morning at a little after 8 A.M. When he’d awoken, Cara had been gone, and he wondered for the fifth time since leaving his place why the woman had disappeared on him without a word.

He pulled his car to a stop, jumped out, automatically reached for the latex gloves he’d brought in his jacket, only to be stopped short by Colin.

There was worry in his eyes. “Where’s Cara?”

Todd frowned at that. “Hell if I know.” But he’d be finding out, soon.

Colin’s lips tightened. “When did you see her last?”

What the hell? “Is this another hit by our killer? Damn it, I wondered why we got the call on this one.” So what was happening?

There wasn’t a hotel around, but had the Bondage Killer struck again? And was Colin trying to pin this one on Cara? Not gonna happen. “Look, man, Cara has an alibi, she was with me last night.”

“With you?”

“Yeah, at my place, in my bed, until seven this morning.” When he’d heard the soft click of the door closing behind her.

“I wasn’t saying she committed this crime—”

“Then what were you—”

Colin grunted. “You sure she was with you until seven?”

What the f**k? “Yeah.”

His shoulders seemed to relax. “Thought it was her at first, but the smell was off, the freckles weren’t right and—”

“What the hell are you talking about?”

Blue eyes held his. “Go see for yourself.”

Well, he’d been trying to do just that when Colin had stopped him. Shouldering past his partner, Todd headed for the phone booth just beyond the crossing lines of yellow tape. Even from the distance, he could see the blood lining the glass. “Shit. Someone really did a number on the vic—”

“Not the victim’s blood,” Colin said from behind him. “The victim died from a broken neck.”

He was at the phone booth now. Todd glanced down, and felt as if he’d just taken a knife to the chest. “She…looks like Cara.”

Not a perfect match. But the hair was the same. The nose. The brow. This woman’s chin was bit more curved and she had a line of freckles on her nose, but—damn, it was a close resemblance.

“The uniforms on scene recognized her from the station…or they thought they did. They called the captain—he told me to get down here ASAP.”

It could have been Cara.

The woman looked so much like her that she could have been her sister.

A woman who was a copy of Cara, murdered near a phone booth just hours after his mystery call.

No damn way that was a coincidence. Clearing his throat, he asked, “Have you run the phone records?”

“Just sent out the order.” A pause. “When I got the call from McNeal, he told me not to notify you yet. I-I didn’t know what was happening, and I thought you should be in the loop—” Colin broke off, shaking his head. “Man, if I’d known that he thought it was your lady, I never would have called you in—”

Your lady. The remorse in Colin’s voice was undeniable. “It’s not Cara.” But, what if it had been? What if he’d arrived and found her bloodstained body, lying broken in the phone booth.

No. His hands fisted. He wasn’t even gonna think about shit like that. His lady, as Colin had so aptly put it, was a strong demon.

No one would hurt her.

No one. Todd forced his gaze away from the woman’s face. Sweat beaded his brow.

Do the job.

He had to focus. Do what needed to be done.

Then he could get the hell out of there.

Not Cara.

He moved forward, being careful not to disturb the victim. His gaze locked on the small identification square just below the phone.

The plastic screen that covered the phone number for the booth was spattered with blood, but he could still make out the numbers.

He exhaled heavily. A damn match. He turned his attention to a still shaken-looking Colin. “I think you’re going to find my number was the last one dialed.”

“What?”

“I got a call last night, this morning, hell, around four a.m.” The call could’ve come moments before the victim’s time of death. “A woman told me that Cara’s alibis were crap. That the staff at Paradise Found were lying.”

“And why would they be doing that?”

“Because Niol told them to.”

“Shit.”

“The call came from this number.” He pointed to the small sign. This case just kept throwing him one damn surprise after another.

He whistled as he glanced around the booth and saw nothing but blood. “The lady must have done a hell of a number on her attacker.”

Thank God it hadn’t been Cara.

“There was a knife beside her body,” Colin said. “It’s already been tagged and bagged.”

The stench of blood had him swallowing and stepping back. Well, a knife would explain the blood, if…“Shouldn’t there be another dead body here?” He asked quietly. Someone had sure bled out like a stuck pig, and no human could survive that kind of blood loss.

No human. He met Colin’s stare, understanding hitting him with the force of a blow right to the face.

“It takes a lot to kill certain people,” was all Colin said.