Diabolical (Shaye Archer Series Book 3) Read Free Page B

alone. The jury had bought it, and the man was in prison.
    Then he’d started to worry that one of the others might get scared and be tempted to say something to the police. That the threat of an investigation backed by Pierce Archer’s money might be enough to have them offer up a deal in exchange for their own freedom. So he’d eliminated the others. No one would ever match their voices, because he’d silenced them forever. Then he waited and watched, but weeks, then months, passed and the news reported nothing new and eventually, the entire story faded away.
    He wanted to believe he was safe. That she would never remember, but it was impossible to relax with that thought constantly niggling in the back of his mind. He thought again that if he killed her, he’d be done with it forever, but would he? Or would killing the girl be the thing that got him caught? Everyone was watching her now, fawning over the sad little victim. And the Archer bitch had surprised everyone by taking her in. If anything happened to the girl now, he’d have the Archer bitch and all her money pushing to catch him, and he didn’t need that kind of heat.
    He had one other option. It was a tricky one, but manageable.
    But he hadn’t needed to use it.
    She never remembered.
    Nine years had passed and the girl had never done anything to indicate she could recall her past. He’d moved away for years, feeling that a new city was the only safe way to continue his practices, but no matter how many cities he tried, he’d always come back home, even if only for a short while. New Orleans was the only place he’d ever felt the power of the One and True God, and he’d returned for good three months ago, finally allowing himself to slip into the comfort of one who had gotten away with it.
    He’d needed to return to the ceremony and ritual that he’d abandoned since the girl escaped. He’d just made arrangements to return to the old ways. To return to the spiritual place he used to dwell. Then that idiot Clancy had gotten caught and he’d started to worry again. The news was filled with stories of notebooks collected from Clancy’s work site. What if they were records of Clancy’s “other” line of business? He’d given Clancy only his first name, but what if it was somewhere in those notebooks? It wasn’t an odd or unique name, but it wasn’t overly common, either. If the police started poking around, would they find something to trace the girls back to him?
    They were questions with no answers and only one solution.
    He’d decided that he needed to clean house, as he should have nine years before. So he started doing reconnaissance immediately. So many people might possess knowledge they didn’t even know they had, and if the cops figured out Shaye Archer was one of the girls Clancy sold, they would question everyone all over again. Something that might not have made sense all those years ago might make a whole lot of sense now.
    The cops who found the Archer girl. The doctor and nurses who cared for her. They were all on the list. And of course, Shaye.
    It was the only way to ensure her continued silence.

3
    F riday afternoon , Shaye walked into the police station and greeted the desk sergeant, who gave her a big smile.
    “You’ve been busy, Ms. Archer,” he said. “That was a fine bit of work you managed with Detective Lamotte.”
    Shaye felt a blush creep up her face at the veteran cop’s praise. “Thank you, but I think I got lucky more than anything else.”
    “Nonsense. You’ve got a good gut for this kind of work. I think you’ve got a big future ahead of you.”
    “Don’t tell my mother that.”
    The desk sergeant smiled. “Well, mothers worry. That’s their job. Still, kids have managed to live their own lives for thousands of years despite it. I’m guessing you will too.”
    Shaye smiled. “You’re very perceptive. You must be a cop.”
    He laughed. “Stop flattering me and get on back to your meeting. Down the