Dangerous Read Free Page B

this, the case would haunt Camille for the rest of her life. He knew something about being haunted by the past, so he had to make certain they retrieved the girl in one piece.
    Once outside, he led her straight to his black ’95 Firebird Trans Am convertible. He couldn’t get enough of looking at her as he opened the door. She raised her eyebrows but didn’t say a word, simply slid into the passenger seat. He longed to reach over and buckle her up, longed to touch her again. She clicked the seat belt in place. He wanted to undo the clip holding her fiery red hair back from a too pale face, watching it tumble down around her. He longed to see those bow-shaped lips turn up into a familiar grin. He longed to feel the heat of her eyes on him again.
    To feel her surrounding him.
    Which proved just how stupid he could be.
    He’d barely gotten into the driver’s seat when she asked, “Are you gaming me?”
    “What makes you think that?”
    “You still didn’t tell me where we’re going.”
    “Your place.” He started the engine and drove off.
    “To do what? My computer was confiscated by the department last night. It’s now part of the electronic chain of evidence.”
    He already knew that.
    His intention was to get her someplace private. They needed a base of operations, and Humboldt Park, where he grew up and still lived, was filled with problems that she would find troublesome, to say the least. His mom had remarried and moved out of state, so he probably should have moved to a different neighborhood after he’d served his time.
    As a kid living in a mostly Hispanic community, he’d always felt like the odd one out. Not quite Anglo like his father, not quite Hispanic like his half–Puerto Rican mother. Seven years older than he, Justus hadn’t suffered the same anxieties. His brother had gone to a Catholic school until their father died and their mother was strapped for cash. Drago hadn’t even gotten to know his fellow first-graders before they were both transferred to the local public school with all its problems, mostly gang related. Justus had enough time at that private school that he’d envisioned a different life for himself, so he’d found ways of skirting local gang politics.
    Drago hadn’t had the same experience. He’d been pulled into the culture, had to fight his way out of being forced into the local gang. Eventually, he saw himself as an equalizer. There were moments when he was all that stood between the local predators and the victimized honest people he’d known all his life. He hadn’t been able to abandon them.
    He’d made a few turns heading for Camille’s place before she asked, “So what did Justus tell you?”
    “He didn’t give me details. Just that you got yourself behind the cue ball trying to nail a predator.”
    Something he would still like to do himself to the Humboldt Lords gang leader, Tomas Huerta, if it wouldn’t mean serving more jail time. Talk about the irony of the justice system.
    When she didn’t respond, merely stared out the passenger side window, he said, “So tell me what you know.”
    “He calls himself Angel.” Her voice was flat. “As far as we’re aware, he’s seduced two young women on the Internet. I was able to put it together by talking to their friends, who told me they met some interesting guy named Angel online. They made dates to meet him and then just disappeared. He kept the first one for eight days, the second for ten. Eventually he got tired of playing with them, and then we found their bodies.”
    “Found them how?”
    “Public places. The weird thing is they were dressed in clothes their friends said they would never wear. And apparently he’d done their hair and makeup, too.”
    “Why do you think he did it?”
    “Because of the way they looked. Weirdly alike. Curly hair. A ton of eye makeup and fake lashes. Red lips and fingernails. Breasts practically hanging out of low-cut tops. Totally out of character for them