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

a cop?” Cheryl asked. She was definitely feeling much more relaxed, which John hoped was attributed to him, but might have been to do with the rum and coke she was drinking.
    “No, like all little kids I wanted to be a baseball player.”
    “That sounds like a cool dream to have,” Cheryl said.
    “Yeah, it is. I was actually getting close to the dream, but I blew my shoulder out when I was college and that was pretty much the end of that.”
    “Ouch. That sucks.”
    “Yea, but I enjoy what I do. I mean it has its ups and downs just like everything else, but there is just not anything else that I could ever picture myself doing on a regular basis,” John said.
    “I can hear that. Would you say that catching bad guys is more than a job for you?”
    “What? Like it’s my passion?” John laughed.
    “Yea,” Cheryl replied with a sexy smile.
    “I know it sounds stupid, but it really is like a passion. There is something that gives me a rush like nothing else in the world when I close a case. I just love knowing that I helped put a bad person behind bars where they can’t hurt any other innocent people.”
    Cheryl touched his hand right then. “That is very sweet,” she said. It almost sounded flirtatious but he didn’t think she meant it in that way.
    “So, how are you holding up with everything?” John asked.
    “I’m doing about as well as I can,” Cheryl replied. “I feel so sorry for my parents. They have just been destroyed by what happened to Theresa. Mom has hardly left the house since it happened. I was going to have them stay with me for a bit while everything is going on, but they decided that they wanted to bury Theresa back in Lancaster. So I’ll be going up there for the funeral.”
    “I’m so sorry,” John said. He looked deep into Cheryl’s eyes and hoped that she was as strong as he thought she was. He admired strength in a beautiful woman and he could tell that Cheryl was one of the strongest women he had ever met.
    “So, you don’t have any leads about this guy at all?” Cheryl asked. A solitary tear rolled down her face and John brushed it away. He took a deep breath and thought about telling her who the killer was and about what had happened to him. He decided that she needed to know. The Chief had told him to keep it all under wraps, and he had fully intended to do that, but with Cheryl that didn’t seem at all important.
    John told her everything. From what happened when he was a kid to the letter he had just received. When he was done it felt like a big weight had been lifted off his chest. He had tried not to get too caught up in Cheryl’s response to this, but she was obviously becoming very emotional. It had to be a huge thing to hear and now that it was out John was not so sure that he should have told her.
    “Oh, my God. So, this guy is a serial killer? He is going to keep doing this? You guys haven’t been able to catch him for thirty years?”
    “It isn’t quite as cut and dry as that, “John started. He wanted to calm her down. She was getting a bit hysterical and he poured her a glass of water, which she gulped down quickly.
    “What is it then? You don’t have the faintest idea who this man is? He killed your sister and God knows how many other people since then. Now he killed my sister. Did he kill my sister as a message to you?”
    John looked at Cheryl right then and stared deeply into her eyes. He had actually not thought of that before now, but he didn’t think so.
    “No, he is driven to kill. That is all this man does. He takes and takes and takes. The fact that he is now playing games with me is just something he is doing because I’m back in town and he is bored.”
    John hoped that Cheryl bought his reply. It would be terrible for her to think that her sister was killed just to send a message to him as part of some sick game this guy was playing. Although he was playing a very twisted game. That was what all serial killers did. They played games