Blood Orchids by Toby Neal Read Free Book Online

matter. It just didn’t seem that important to catch speeders and call in loose dogs with the bodies of two dead teenagers lying in the morgue.
    * * *
    The dark truck he drove blended in with so many others, the ride of choice in that rural area. After finding her address it hadn’t been hard to follow her to this regular destination, an evening class. His camera sat on the seat beside him, along with a pair of night vision binoculars.
    He waited, and scrolled through the pictures on his phone—women he’d spotted and secretly photographed. Each of them had something special that had caught his artist’s eye—a special curve to the ass, shiny long hair, a sweetly drawn mouth. He loved to capture that uniqueness at the moment it was surrendered to him. Beautiful women wanted to be discovered, captured, conquered. He did them a favor, fulfilling their secret fantasies as he acted out his own.
    This next target was a police officer, holding back the crowd at an accident scene. Her navy-blue uniform hugged her body. This one would be a risk, but he was ready for a challenge. He’d titled each photo, and he brushed his thumb across the name on the slightly glowing surface of the cell phone.

Chapter 8
    Saturday morning dawned grey and wet. Lei slept in, tired from being up late at Criminology class at University of Hawaii the night before, but got up when Keiki woke her to go out. They did their morning run, but Lei still felt restless and unsettled when they got back and decided to clean. She hung the rag rug from her living room on the chain link fence and was taking her frustration out on it with a broom when she heard a shout.
    “Hey Lei!”
    She turned, the broom raised, and her heart rate jumped.
    “Stevens! What’re you doing here?”
    “I’d feel better if you put the broom down.” He chuckled, his hands raised.
    “Sorry.” She laughed a little too, lowering it. “Spring cleaning.”
    “I was in your area and I thought I’d stop by to talk about the investigation. Turns out you were right. We aren’t getting any other detectives from Hilo District, and I still need help, a lot more manpower than Jeremy and I.”
    “Okay. I won’t say I told you so.” She whacked the rug a few more times and thought of the stalker note. “How’d you get my address?”
    “Irene gave it to me. She told me I needed to come talk to you.” Irene Matsumoto was in charge of Dispatch, personnel records, and general morale. She also knew how much Lei wanted to make detective.
    “Nobody crosses Irene. So does this mean you’re putting me on the investigation?”
    “I asked the Lieutenant if I could borrow you, yeah. He said okay. I’m still hoping for some more detectives since the community is making so much noise, but until then—” He shrugged. “We’re it. I’m going to use Pono too.”
    “Let’s go inside.” Keiki began barking from inside the house, a deep snarling Cerberus boom. “Don’t worry. She only eats assholes.”
    He laughed, but it was a little hollow. She opened the front door and signaled Keiki to sit.
    “This is Stevens,” she said in her ‘friend’ voice, making the hand signal.
    “Michael,” he said. “Call me Michael.” Keiki sniffed him, a little leftover growl rumbling in her chest, but she moved aside and followed them in. Lei took him to the little Formica table with its delicate orchid plant.
    “Coffee?” she asked.
    “Yeah, please. Nice place.”
    “It’s perfect for the two of us,” she said, getting him a mug and filling it up with the strong morning brew.
    “Oh. Where’s your boyfriend?”
    “No, I meant the two of us.” She pointed to the dog. “Keiki and I.”
    “Right. Okay.” He covered the awkwardness by taking a sip of his steaming coffee. She sat down after refilling her own mug. Keiki put her head on Lei’s leg and eyed Stevens, her triangle ears pricked.
    “We got some more details back from the autopsies,” he said. “Looks like most of the