Particles of Obsession (A Shadow of Death Romantic Suspense Book 2) by Charlotte Raine Read Free Book Online Page B

him.”
    “That doesn’t answer the question.”
    “What do you want me to say?” I ask. “Yes, I want revenge? Yes, I’m still angry that Andre was killed? Yes, it has crossed my mind to interrogate this killer myself since I can’t interrogate Alex anymore? Because you should know what the answer to those questions are. You loved your students and they’re gone. You should be just as angry. But once I’m in the situation…I don’t know. I planned on killing Alex, but I hesitated and now he’s dead anyway. Things always end up being different than how we planned them. It’s part of the human condition.”
    He nods. “I suppose you’re right. I just don’t want you to do anything rash.”
    “I’m planting myself out there as bait. I think we’re past rash.”
    “True.”
    He runs his fingers through his hair and settles onto his couch.
    “I honestly just don’t understand how someone could do this,” he says. “I also don’t want you to do anything rash because I want answers. I want to know why this killer murdered my students, but that shouldn’t hurt you as much as it already has.”
    “Is any answer going to be good enough?”
    “It’s going to be better than no answer at all.”
    He leans back until he’s lying down.
    “I don’t know how I can go back to teaching after this,” he says. “What if something I said influenced them to kill?”
    I walk over to the couch and sit down a couple inches away from his head.
    “You can’t feel guilty about what this killer has done,” I say. “I mean, if you were to blame, you’d have a lot more serial murdering students.”
    “Well, one of them was also a drug addict, which I didn’t know,” he says. “Who knows what the others are doing? How can I trust any of them again?”
    “You trust me now, don’t you?” I ask. “You don’t still think I murdered Alex?”
    “I never taught you,” he says. “I never had influence over you.”
    “Mmm. You have taught me things and had more influence over me than you’re giving yourself credit for,” I say. He looks up at me and smiles. I place my fingertips along his jawline and trace it up to his right ear. He encases his hand over my mine and pulls me down closer to him. When we kiss, it’s not romantic—it’s urgent, needy, and sad, but underneath all that, I feel that same kind of joy that he had faked in his blog post.
    That kind of happiness is frightening when it can be so easily taken away.
    I sit back up, pulling my hand out of his grasp.
    “We should sleep,” I say. “Our plan needs us to be vigilant and well-rested.”
    “Of course,” he murmurs. “I’m going to stay here for a while. See you in the morning.”
    I get onto my feet and walk away from him, but my movements aren’t as steady as usual. I’ve been pushed off-balance by everything going on in my life and I need to refocus. I can’t risk making another mistake.

Chapter Four

The Killer
    I pulled the trigger on my Glock 17. The bullet pierced through the magazine photo of some blond celebrity, but only her right shoulder. I needed to aim better.
    My father built a gun range in the woods behind our house. We’ve had the police called on us a few times for shooting too often, but, quite honestly, if people didn’t want to hear gunshots, they should live in an upper-class street in the city, not in the boondocks, where guns put meat in the freezer and they’re the pride and joy of several men and a fair amount of women here.
    Sic transit gloria mundi. All the glory in this world will fade away, so we should enjoy what we have.
    And take what we want.
    Bright orange caught my eye. I turned to see Alex approaching me in a sweater that was such a bright orange, it would make brand new hunting clothes look dull.
    “Are you trying to get the satellites up in space to notice you?” I asked, setting my gun down on a lawn chair. He looked down at his sweater as he stopped in front of me. He raised his head back up,