Killer Takes All by Erica Spindler Read Free Book Online

about the baby, the amazing little Apple Annie. Stacy hadn’t heard or seen anything.

    “Are you certain she didn’t say anything else? Anything at all?”

    “No. Now I wish…if only I’d—” Amy’s words broke on a sob.

    Ella turned to Stacy, face red. “How do you know so much?”

    Stacy explained about waking to what she thought were gunshots and going to investigate. “I found her. And Beth.”

    “You used to be a cop, right?”

    “I used to be, yes.”

    “And now you’re playing cop? Reliving your glory days?”

    The accusation in the other woman’s words took her by surprise. “Hardly. To the police Cassie’s just another victim. She was much more than that to me. I intend to make certain whoever did this doesn’t get away with it.”

    “Her murder had nothing to do with role-playing games!”

    “How do you know?”

    “Everybody’s always pointing fingers at us.” Ella’s voice shook. “Like role-playing games turn kids into zombies or killing machines. It’s stupid. You’d do better to talk to that freak Bobby Gautreaux.”

    Stacy frowned. “Do I know him?”

    “Probably not.” Magda was hugging herself and rocking back and forth. “He and Cassie dated last year. She broke up with him. He didn’t take it well.”

    Ella looked at Magda. “Didn’t take it well? At first he threatened to kill himself. Then he threatened to kill her!”

    “But that was last year,” Amy whispered. “Surely, that threat was made in the heat of the moment.”

    “Don’t you remember what she told us a couple weeks ago?” Ella asked. “She thought he’d been following her.”

    Amy’s eyes widened. “Oh, my God, I’d forgotten.”

    “Me, too,” Magda admitted. “What do we do now?”

    They turned to her, three young women whose lives had just taken an irrevocable turn. One precipitated by a dose of very ugly realism.

    “What do you think?” Magda asked, voice shaking.

    That this changed everything. “You have to call the police and tell them exactly what you told me. Do it right away.”

    “But Bobby really loved her,” Amy said. “He wouldn’t hurt her. He cried when she ended it. He—”

    Stacy cut her off as gently as possible. “Believe it or not, as many murderers are motivated by love as by hate. Maybe more. Statistically, more men kill than women, and in cases of domestic violence, women are almost always the victim. In addition, more men stalk their previous partners and have restraining orders filed against them.”

    “You think Bobby’s been stalking her? But why wait a year before—” She choked on the words, obviously unable to bring herself to say them.

    But they hung heavily in the air.

    Before killing her.

    “Some of these guys are mindless brutes who strike immediately. Others think it through, lying in wait for the right moment. They refuse to let go of their fury. If he was stalking her, Bobby Gautreaux would fall into the latter category.”

    “I feel sick,” Magda moaned, dropping her head into her hands.

    Amy leaned close and gently rubbed her friend’s back. “It’s going to be okay.”

    But of course it wasn’t. And they all knew it.

    “Where can I find this Bobby Gautreaux?” Stacy asked.

    “He’s an engineering student,” Ella offered.

    “I think he lived in one of the dorms,” Amy said. “At least he did last year.”

    “Are you certain he’s still a UNO student?” Stacy asked.

    “I’ve seen him around campus this year,” Amy said. “Just the other day, in fact. Here, in the UC.”

    Stacy stood and started packing up her things. “Call Detective Malone. Tell him what you told me.”

    “What are you going to do?” Magda asked.

    “I’m going to see if I can find Bobby Gautreaux. I want to ask him a few questions before the police do.”

    “About White Rabbit?” Ella asked, an edge in her voice.

    “Among other things.” Stacy hefted her backpack to her shoulder.

    Ella followed her to her