Skin Read Free

talk about your sister later,” Caresse threatened. After swiping a lip gloss across her full mouth, she rose and headed for the door. “Right now, I better get my butt out on the floor before Sal comes gunning for it.”
    Hannah didn’t answer, merely stared at herself in the mirror and removed her makeup. After changing into a blazing red miniskirt and white T-shirt, she clamped a thick black leather belt around her waist. From her bag, she pulled out a fine chain, the clasp secured by a tiny gold safety pin, and put it on. A glance at the mirror reflected the transformation that amazed even her. The fantasy creature had been replaced by an almost plain-looking woman who appeared young. Innocent, even.
    The eyes told the truth about her.
    Hannah touched the heart-half that dangled against her T-shirt and thought about doing something daring, like calling Lilith. That’s why she’d moved to Chicago, right? Because she’d seen that article about all the good works Lilith had been doing for teenagers with her boss here in Chicago? That’s what Caresse would tell her to do.
    But that, too, was just a fantasy.
    oOo
    DETECTIVE JOHN PUCINSKI drank his Pepto-Bismol cocktail straight from the bottle. Thick pink liquid oozing down his throat to coat his gut, he tore the bottle from his lips and capped it.
    “Planning on eating raw onions for lunch?” A grinning Gabriel O’Malley stood in the doorway to Pucinski’s glass-enclosed office, file folders in hand.
    “Nah, The Hunter Case is starting to get to me.”
    “Gotta stop taking it personal,” O’Malley warned.
    “I always take it personal when a repeater gives me the finger.” He motioned to the younger detective, one of those virile types with thick black hair and a trim waist that made a more seasoned cop feel plain old. “What you got for me?”
    “The computer check on the hooker,” O’Malley said of the latest victim. “Seems she was a cash-only consumer.”
    Imagine her filling out a credit application. What would she put under employment history – personal service? Yeah, probably.
    “No credit,” Pucinski muttered. “Just like the waitress.”
    Another thing the two victims had in common that would make it harder to nail the killer. No families, no real close friends, no credit.
    And a connection to a gentlemen’s club.
    “So, you have any leads other than Club Paradise?” O’Malley asked.
    Pucinski shrugged. The waitress worked there. Seemed the hooker worked it, too, if on a less formal and regular basis.
    “Hey, it’s something,” O’Malley said, leaving the glass-encased office and returning to his own desk.
    “Yeah, something.”
    Something he hadn’t been able to ignore. The connection, no matter how slight, told him the killer had been to the strip bar at least twice. Instinct told him the guy was a regular, the reason for placing a plant at the joint. An undercover cop could scope things out from the inside pretty fast, Pucinski figured, reviewing the victims’ folders. Both had been tall and well-built with long, dark hair.
    He wondered how many other women working the club would fit that description.
    oOo

 
Chapter 2
     
    “WANT TO CATCH A MOVIE?” Elena asked at break time the next day, the newspaper spread on the table in front of her. Short and compact, Elena was a powerhouse whether at the gym or working on some client’s case
    “So what’s playing?”
    Elena didn’t respond for a minute. Then she looked up from the paper and with a smirk curling her full lips, said, “Man, this chick could almost be you.”
    “You mean I look like some movie star?”
    “Not exactly.” Snorting, Elena immediately handed over the paper. “Give it a look.” She rose and grabbed her coffee cup before heading for the door. “Check out the movies and call me if there’s anything you want to see.”
    Lilith obediently gazed down at the entertainment section. But rather than a movie, the photograph on the opposite page immediately