Bound by Blood (The Garner Witch Series) Read Free Page B

nothing but confuse me further.
    Euphoria.
    The last thing she felt was complete and utter peace. How was that possible?
    I stood and walked to the doorway. “Agent Morrison!”
    “Yeah.” He poked his head around the corner.
    “Were any of the other victims drugged?” It was the only conclusion that made sense. It would explain her last emotions, and the lack of defensive wounds.
    “No. I wondered the same thing. We couldn’t test their blood since there wasn’t any left, but the coroner took tissue samples. They all came back clean.” He ducked back into the other room.
    The lack of progress forced me to attempt something else, something I rarely permitted. But with nothing else to go on, and my growing sense of uncertainty, I thought I’d try to focus on the killer’s emotions instead.
    Forming an emotional bond with the killer quite frankly, scared the shit out of me. I’ve always heeded the words of Friedrich Nietzsche, “Whoever fights monsters should see to it that in the process he does not become a monster. And when you look long into the abyss, the abyss also looks into you.”
    Would I become a monster? How many times could I look into the dark abyss of evil before it changed me? But what choice did I have? If I wanted to stop this man, I needed to understand his motives.
    I made myself comfortable in the overstuffed chair that sat next to the bed and prepared myself for anything. I severed my link to the victim and opened my mind to the murderer. I knew the moment I was successful. Nausea bubbled up as the evil consumed me. The darkness of this man’s heart was a black hole, capable of devouring anything good, and leaving nothing behind but emptiness. 
    Often times, murderers were enraged when they killed. That wasn’t the case here. There was no anger. The victims simply had something he wanted, and he killed to get it. The only thing I sensed was…fulfillment, and an impatient satisfaction, like he’d been waiting a long time to get what he came for.
    I immediately shut off my tie to the killer, feeling even more aggravated than when I began. I learned nothing new, at least nothing that would help me to discover his identity. However, I was now certain about two things: He was evil, and he was not going to stop until he had everything he wanted.
    “What the hell does he want from these women?” I whispered, letting out an impatient sigh.
    “Hey, Reece. I found something,” Agent Morrison called from the living room.
    As I joined him, I noticed he was holding something. “What’ve you got?”
    “A solid lead.” He handed me a business card.
    “Donovan Security? Who are they, and why is this a lead?”
    “It’s a security company based in Denver. But more importantly, it’s the first tangible connection between the victims. One of the other vics hired Donovan Security because of a stalker situation. She’d turned to the police, but they couldn’t do anything since there was no proof she was actually being stalked.” He paused. “This can’t be a coincidence.”
    “I think we should go talk to Nathan Donovan,” I suggested, reading the name on the card.
    “I agree. Let’s go home and get some rest. We’ll stop by Donovan Security first thing in the morning.”
    As we were leaving, something caught my attention. “Hmmm, that’s strange,” I muttered.
    “What?”
    “Nothing, really.  It’s just, this place is really clean—like, fanatically clean—but there’s a big pile of dust over there in the corner.” I pointed to the kitchen floor. “I just thought it was weird.”
    “Where?” Morrison asked, his interest piqued as he turned. “Oh, my god.”
    His response was a little confusing. Granted, it was strange, but I wasn’t sure that a pile of dust merited an ‘Oh, my god’. “What is it?”
    “We found the same thing at the Harper crime scene. She was also the vic that hired Donovan Security.” He became animated as he explained. “We had it tested, but it