Pure Hell (Seventh Level Book 1) Read Free Page A

“Did you get a list of clients?”
    “I did. I thought I would get started on interviewing them tomorrow.”
    Liam nodded even though Mark couldn’t see the motion. “What about family?”
    “I’m running into a bit of an international problem there, but I don’t think so. Here is what I have stateside. Kylie Marie Trace was born twenty-seven years ago in some tiny village in Scotland and at age seven, both parents were killed in a freak fire. She was sent to Nashville, Tennessee to live with her aunt. At the age of seventeen, her aunt died of a sudden heart attack. Since Kylie was considered a legal adult in Scotland, the trust her parents set up for her was released. She wasted no time moving here to New Orleans two weeks later.” He paused and Liam heard the shuffling of papers in the background and ice tinkling in a glass as if Mark was taking a drink before continuing. “According to both her supervisor at the phone company and Madame Curion, Kylie claimed she had no living relatives.”
    “Friends or boyfriends?” Liam barked.
    Mark sighed at his tone but answered. “There is no man I could find and only a friend named Cindy.”
    Ignoring the odd relief shooting through him upon learning there hadn’t been a man in her life, Liam tugged on his running shoes without untying them first.
    “Give me the friend’s address and I’ll work on that tomorrow.”
    Silence rang through the line and Liam checked to make sure the call hadn’t dropped. The timer was still clicking by and his temper began to rise.
    “Address,” he growled.
    “You have that weird tone you get when you’re planning something on the side.”
    Sometimes he hated that Mark knew him so well, or at least he knew him better than others did. Sighing heavily, he admitted, “I’m going to check out her place.”
    “Landlord’s not opening it up for us until the morning.”
    “Yep,” Liam agreed. “The friend’s address,” he reminded him.
    * * * * *
    Dread ate at Kylie’s gut as Liam popped the lock on her tiny two-bedroom apartment. She’d once loved her slice of the world, but that was before evil had moved in. Fear seeped into the very walls surrounding her.
    The door swung wide and without thought, Kylie gripped the back of Liam’s shirt and jumped behind him for protection. Liam froze at her touch as if he felt her tugging at his clothes but after a moment, he continued inside. She kept her pace slow, looking right then left, searching for any hint of sulfur in the air. She didn’t care if she was slowing Liam down or even if she was alerting him to her presence. She didn’t want him rushing into a trap and she didn’t know what to expect. After all, she’d ended up dead.
    “I’m so glad you’re tall,” she whispered as she blatantly used him as a shield.
    The air seemed heavy and ominous just as she feared it would but she couldn’t decide if it was a lingering feeling from past events or if they weren’t alone. When after a full minute, no flames erupted around her and Liam’s flesh was not torn from his bones, she let go of his shirt.
    Liam’s footsteps slapped against the hardwood floors and bounced off the walls of the otherwise silent room as he moved to stand in front of the couch. She knew the bland tan stripes of the overstuffed sofa weren’t what captured his attention but the giant words etched into the wood above it. With his hands clasped behind his back, he leaned closer inspecting them.
    “Kylie Trace full of grace”
    Despite the fact the words tore completely through the drywall, each letter was perfectly shaped. Liam stared at the words for so long Kylie wondered what he could see that she didn’t.
    As if the silence was some form of masterful questioning technique on Liam’s part, Kylie found herself telling him things she’d never confessed to anyone.
    “It was his way of torturing me,” she explained. “I sat in that chair,” she said, pointing to the recliner adjacent the couch even