Deadly Obsession by Katie Reus Read Free Book Online Page B

tight ass and perky tits. She was more than acceptable.
    Not to mention she had so many similar qualities to Lilly Carmichael. Dark hair, slim build, porcelain skin. It might explain why the sheriff had dated her in the first place despite the fact that she was a shallow bitch and not his type at all.
    She stirred in his arms so he didn’t waste time securing her wrists and ankles to the yoga ropes against the wall. Normally he preferred a flatter surface on his own turf but he couldn’t risk transporting her somewhere else.
    Not now. Not when he was so close to finally making Lilly pay.
    After stripping out of his clothes, he laid out his small array of tools and sheathed himself with a condom. He couldn’t afford to get sloppy now. Leaning against the wall, he positioned himself so that their faces were inches apart. He wanted to see that moment when she opened her eyes and she realized she was going to die.
    She didn’t disappoint. Her dark eyes widened, and when she started to scream, he shoved a strip of heavy-duty masking tape over mouth. This was a little different than he normally did things, but he couldn’t risk someone hearing her screams.
    “Are you ready to play?” he murmured against her cheek.
    With tears streaming down her cheeks, she tried to jerk away from him, but she had nowhere to go.
     
    Lilly took a step back as she glanced between Braden and the coroner. On a scale of one to ten on the weird scale, they were acting like a fifteen. Why on earth were they asking her about her tattoo?
    And why had Braden’s face suddenly paled?
    “Okay, what’s this all about?” She placed a hand on her hip.
    “I…” Hailey trailed off and shook her head.
    “Why don’t you take a seat?” Braden motioned behind her, but she didn’t move.
    “No, why don’t you two tell me what’s going on?”
    “We need to show her,” Hailey said.
    Braden scrubbed a hand over his face. “You’re right. This way.”
    As they filed into the hall, Lilly fought the eerie sensation that had settled into her gut. Braden didn’t lose his cool. Ever. Or he hadn’t when they’d been younger.
    Two doors down, he held open another door for them. She followed Hailey who flipped on the lights. The garish fluorescent bulbs put off a high frequency sound as they lit up, compounding her uneasiness.
    Two wooden desks were pushed together in an otherwise bare pale green room. The wall by the desks had three giant corkboards. Blown-up pictures of crime scenes, computer printouts and photos of various women’s head shots were tacked up. “What is this place?”
    “The detectives have a work station set up at headquarters for the case I told you about but Hailey and I sometimes work late here and it’s easier than heading back to the station. With the exception of hard evidence, this is a copy of basically everything my detectives have.” Braden nodded toward the corkboards.
    Lilly thought it was interesting that he worked late with Hailey, but she had no right to feel jealous if they had a relationship. “So what’s the deal with my tattoo?”
    “Look.” Hailey walked to one of the boards and pointed toward a row of four pictures.
    Lilly’s stomach roiled as she tried to comprehend what she was seeing. “Is that what I think it is…Is that skin?”
    “These are pictures taken from our last four victims. After torturing and killing them, our guy carves this symbol into the center of the victims’ backs. I’ve been trying to figure this out for a year. I’ve been running this image through different databases with no luck. Until now. I can’t believe this.” Hailey muttered a string of surprising curses as she shook her head.
    “When did you find this sketch?” Braden asked.
    Lilly glanced back at him. He stood near the door, his face an unreadable mask.
    Hailey kept her focus on Lilly as she answered. “This morning. I started looking up different symbols of death. It was a shot in the dark but at this point, we