Darker Still by T. S. Worthington Read Free Book Online Page A

a pretty good indication of where to start. It might amount to nothing, but it was definitely worth a shot.
    He thought about calling the chief with this, but decided to hold off due to the late hour. John was feeling wired; he was not sure what he wanted to do, but he felt like he needed to just do something. This guy could be out there stalking his next victim right now.
    How? How did he stalk his prey? What were his tactics? Those were the questions that were nagging and buzzing at him. If there was a way to know when and where he was going to strike then they could cut him off at the knees. There just wasn’t enough intel on it. He could put different information into the computer based on previous serial killers histories of stalking and luring victims and cross reference to rule things out, but even with the computer that could be a slow process.
    His cell phone rang right then, the buzzing jarred him from his thoughts. He looked at it and noticed that it was Cheryl Daniels calling. He instantly answered the phone praying that she was still ok. He had actually found himself thinking about her off and on since they had shared coffee the other day.
    “Hello?”
    “Yea, Detective Anderson?”
    “Yea, Cheryl? What’s wrong?”
    “Well, there is something that keeps nagging at me. It’s something that I just can’t let go of even though I’m sure it’s nothing, but you told me that every little thing can make all the difference sometimes.”
    “Yea, absolutely.”
    “Can we talk in person? I feel kind of scared.”
    “Scared? Why are you scared? Has someone threatened you?”
    “Well, I’m afraid to go into my house. I just came back from the gym and my door is unlocked. I know I triple locked it when Ieft. I always do that. I’m afraid to go inside my house. I don’t know if someone is there or what is going on.”
    “Sure. I’ll be right there,” John said.
    He was at Cheryl’s house ten minutes later. When he arrived she was really shaken up. He first surveyed the perimeter of the house and after not seeing any signs of a break in he decided to go inside, moving slowly and cautiously.
    Cheryl’s house was nice and well decorated. It had a certain homey quality to it that his own place just lacked. He guessed that must have been a woman thing to be able to just put the little touches that melted the heart and made you feel like you were at home.
    He checked the living room and the closet in the hallway that led to the back bedrooms of the house. There was one bedroom that had been turned into an office/study, and he checked that room thoroughly, opening the closet with some trepidation. Nothing.
    Then he checked out Cheryl’s bedroom. It was a calm, serene color scheme with a large King sized bed. He wondered why she needed a bed that big, and he felt like offering to share it with her sometime. He decided not to say that to her though; it just didn’t feel right.
    The house seemed to be squeaky clean; there was no one there.
    “I’m sorry to make you come all the way out here. I guess I’m just being a nervous Nelly about it. I feel stupid,” Cheryl said.
    “No, you can’t blame yourself. It’s perfectly natural. You thought you locked the door; it’s perfectly logical to think you might have accidentally unlocked it as well. Stranger things have happened.”
    “I could have sworn I locked it. I feel stupid,” Cheryl said.
    “Nonsense. This gave me something to do anyway. I was bored out of my mind at the station,” John said.
    “You were at the station this late?”
    “Yea, I’ve been working on your sister’s case. Nothing has turned up yet and we have no breaks, but we will keep searching. There is always something somewhere that is waiting to break a case open. I have always believed that.”
    “Thanks,” Cheryl said. “Would you like to stay for a while? I really don’t want to be alone right now.”
    “Sure, I’d be happy to.”
     
    “So, you didn’t always want to be