Haynes, K. R. - The Light in Her Eyes [In Her Eyes] (Siren Publishing Classic) by K. R. Haynes Read Free Book Online Page B

to be symbolic. He knew it. A normal person would assume it was a random act. He, however, knew better than that. Ten years on the police force had taught him many lessons. One being nothing happened without a reason behind it. Nothing was random, in other words.
    Rounding the corner, Randall came to a complete stop upon entering the tiny kitchen. Chloe sat huddled up on a kitchen chair. Her feet were up on the seat. She had her arms wrapped around her knees. Her head lay buried on top of them. Randall couldn’t see her face, but he could tell she was crying by the way her shoulders shook.
    Pulling out a chair from the table next to hers he sat down. Realising he still clutched the dead rose and letter, he got up and searched the cupboard drawers until he found a plastic snap bag and popped the letter and dead rose inside. Evidence to take back to the station for analyses to see if any finger prints or anything else could be lifted from them. He highly doubted the lab techs would be able to find anything, but it was worth a shot at least.
    Taking his seat again, reaching out, he clasped his hand around hers. In a gruff voice he spoke to her. “Chloe, look at me.”
    She slowly lifted her watery gaze up to him. Her shock was still evident on her paled-out face. Randall wanted to reach out and pull her into his arms. He wanted to hold her and protect with everything he had to offer her. The sight of seeing Chloe swiping at the moisture leaking from her eyes with the back of her hand had his heart aching for her. This is not the Chloe he had come to know. This version of her seemed beaten down, defeated even, and that was so unlike her. Chloe had always been a strong, fiery-spirited woman, which meant something else was going on here. Something he wasn’t aware of.
    “Where is it? Where’s the rose?” Even her voice sounded off to him.
    “I’ve bagged it up as evidence. I’ll take it back to the station later today to see if we can lift some prints from them.”
    Chloe visibly shuddered at hearing the word evidence, Randall knew then there was more to this dead rose and letter than meets the eye.
    “So it’s not a practical joke then or a mistake like I thought,” she whispered to him.
    “What do you mean?”
    “I hoped it was just a mistake, like a neighbourhood kid playing a prank. I guess not.”
    “What are you talking about, Chloe? What prank?”
    Chloe closed her eyes and dropped her head back down onto her knees and didn’t answer him. Randall had had enough of this bullshit and running around crap from her. She was going to see his Dominant side whether she wanted to or not. He had to make her talk. He needed all the answers to his questions and then some. And he needed to get a better understanding of this unknown threat against her. One he knew was clearly evident if the letter was to be believed.
    Placing a finger under her chin, Randall lifted her head up. “Chloe, I want your full honesty when you answer my questions. Are we clear?”
    “Yes.”
    “Good. Now tell me, Chloe, what has he left you previously?”
    “Voice messages,” she whispered quietly to him. “He left threatening messages on my answering machine. They started the night you pulled me over.” She hesitated slightly as she stumbled over her next words. “His only words were, ‘Die, bitch.’”
    “How many messages have you received so far from him?”
    “Six, if you include the rose we found this morning.”
    “So let me get this straight. Some sick fuck has been threatening you with messages since the night I pulled you over, which might I add was a few weeks ago now, and you’re only just mentioning this to me now.”
    Randall pushed back on his chair and paced around Chloe’s tiny box of a kitchen, as his anger and rage became a rising beast within him. “Christ, Chloe. You should have told me about this before now.” He stopped pacing when he remembered her phone call to him. The one he had been a bastard on. He