Vicious Read Free

hushed.
    Melaney moistened her chapped lips. “But, when you came in here and introduced yourself, I knew I hadn’t imagined it.”
    A chill crept into Jess’s bones. “You may have seen me or heard my name on the news.” Her own voice sounded strained. Her chest seemed to be rising and falling too rapidly, yet she couldn’t draw enough air into her lungs.
    Melaney shook her head. “Told you I don’t watch the news.”
    Jess moved closer to the foot of her bed. “All right. What do you think you heard?”
    “He whispered… or maybe it was the drug that made his voice seem so low and quiet.”
    Holding her breath, Jess waited for the rest.
    “He said, tell Jess this is all for her .”
    Somehow, Jess managed a stiff nod. “Thank you, Melaney.”
    When she would have turned away, Melaney’s voice stopped her again. “Are you the reason he did this to us?”
    Jess would’ve given just about anything to be able to say no…

 
    3
    Birmingham-Shuttlesworth International Airport, 9:52 p.m.
    Sergeant Chet Harper waited at the drop-off area outside baggage claims. The somber face he wore warned it was going to be a long night.
    During the return flight from Knoxville, Jess and Dan hadn’t spent a lot of time talking. He’d made his thoughts on the matter perfectly clear: Jess should basically go into hiding. She had made her opinion equally clear: that was not happening. After the stalemate, she had prevented thoughts of Spears from intruding by fantasizing about the long, hot bath she intended to indulge in before climbing into bed next to Dan—even if he was frustrated at her—and shutting out the world for a few hours.
    But that was going to have to wait now.
    Her team had a new case.
    The instant the plane had settled on the tarmac she couldn’t take the not knowing anymore. She had checked her phone and listened to her messages. Dan had given her that look when she’d powered it on before the pilot announced it was okay to do so. She’d pretended not to notice and turned to stare out the window. The first message had been from Harper. They had a double homicide. A particularly gruesome one judging by the sound of her detective’s voice. The two victims were both young and female.
    Harper had said in the voice mail that he would pick Jess up at the airport. A reasonable call for her senior detective to make since Dan would need to retrieve his SUV from short-term parking and head home. There was no reason for them both to spend the next few hours, maybe the rest of the night, at a crime scene. At this point, Dan wasn’t saying much. Having her rush off to a crime scene the minute they landed didn’t exactly make him happy, but her team had caught this case. She had an obligation to her detectives and to the department. More importantly, she had an obligation to the victims.
    It wasn’t as if Chief of Police Daniel Burnett didn’t fully grasp those facts. She glanced up at the man next to her. His face was grim. The lines of exhaustion told her just how worried he was about her and about Spears. She couldn’t fault him for that. She was damned worried herself.
    “Sergeant,” Jess said in greeting as she and Dan approached Harper and his vehicle.
    “Ma’am.” He gave her a smile, and then nodded to Dan. “Chief.”
    “I’ll keep you posted on my whereabouts at all times,” Jess promised Dan. He didn’t really want her out of his sight. Every move Spears made had him struggling harder to protect her. He was terrified he would fail. She wished she could make him see there was no way to fully protect her from what was coming.
    There were no real choices in this deadlock. For this torment to ever end, she had to face Spears eventually.
    During the past fifteen or so hours, she had come to terms with the reality that there was only one way to stop him. The tricky part was managing that feat without getting herself badly injured or… dead. A thread of unfamiliar fear wove its way through her. This