I Can See You by Karen Rose Read Free Book Online Page A

didn’t know what had finally tipped them off,
whether it was that they’d finally seen the clues or because they’d finally
connected Martha to the other two. Regardless, they would soon know that there
had been others, that through their carelessness they had missed two
homicides.
    Now they were on victim three of his six, halfway
through the game already.
    Because they had God complexes, they would blame
themselves. They would know that if they’d been smarter, quicker, competent ,
they would have seen victim number one hadn’t killed herself. That they might
have prevented the deaths of the others.
    They’d begin to second-guess themselves, and each
other. And as the body count climbed, all that they believed they were, the
mirage of strength they’d built of their own hubris would disappear. Because
their strength had never been.
    He would move on, stronger through their weakness. And
he alone would know the truth, because they’d never find the one who’d brought
demise to their public façade.
    But enough of that for now. They’d finally discovered
Martha Brisbane, aka victim number three of his six, aka Desiree. The game had
officially begun.
    On to victim four. He opened his laptop and logged in
to his new hunting ground. There was a great deal to be said about the supposed
anonymity of Shadowland’s virtual “world.” His victims were there to play,
their guard down. In the virtual world they could say and do things they’d
never dream of doing in the real world. He could earn their trust more easily
because they believed he didn’t know who they really were.
    But he knew. It was why he’d chosen these particular
six out of the millions online.
    He knew their names, addresses, occupations, marital
status, and—of great personal value—their phobias, their worst fears. He’d
tailored each experience to the victim, so although he hadn’t put his hands
around their throats or allowed himself release, he’d been able to stoke the
first three to more intense terror than he’d ever achieved with his hookers.
    In the past, the fears had been only in his victims’
minds, a byproduct of the ketamine he’d used to sedate them. Not so with these
six. They played in the virtual world, but he’d make certain they died
terrified in the real one.
    His first of six had been so terrified of small
spaces. After minutes in a box, Amy had been hysterical. Pulling that twine
around her neck as her heart had thundered, her body unable to flee… It had
taken real discipline to keep from losing control.
    He’d managed to conjure the memory of her terror
later, when he was back at home, alone. But his climax was only a pale shadow
of what it would have been had he taken it as his first of six gasped her last. But one had to make sacrifices for the greater goal.
    Samantha, his second of six, had been afraid of being
buried alive. He’d had a bad moment when he thought she’d passed out, lying
under feet of dirt, a snorkel her only access to air. He wanted her conscious
when he killed her, completely aware. To his relief she’d struggled like an
animal when he’d unearthed her. It had been magnificent.
    Martha… not so much. She hadn’t been that afraid of
water. So he’d made her pay in other ways. One had only to look at her
apartment to know she was obsessive about the stuff she’d accumulated.
Excepting her computer, nothing was of value, but its loss induced nothing less
than sheer panic. So he’d forced her to throw it all away.
    And she’d loved her cat. Those threats had resulted in
extreme disturbance.
    When he put Martha back in the water, he finally
achieved terror. By the end, she’d begged him to kill her. He rolled his eyes.
By the end, he’d been happy to oblige.
    Christy Lewis would be number four of six. He had high
hopes for Christy. Oh, yesssss. He chuckled aloud. Christy’s phobia was
especially intense.
    “Gwenivere, are you online tonight?” Of course she
was. She always was.