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Terrified of what she might discover when she awoke, she hesitated, praying it was a dream. But as tempting as sleep was, she knew this was real. Summoning her courage, she opened her eyes, wincing against the bright light. Again, she tried to raise her arms, but this time realized they were not paralyzed but strapped at her side. She was in a chair akin to what she’d have found in a dentist’s office.
As her mind cleared, she focused on a stainless-steel table laid out with surgical instruments similar to the medical examiner’s office.
“Good, you’re awake.” His voice was soft, soothing, and calm. “I didn’t want to rush you. I thought you’d need the rest.”
She stared for a moment, willing her mind to calm. “Let me go.”
The man came around the side of her chair and smoothed his hand over her hair. “Certainly. All in due time.”
“Why?”
His smile was so soft and pleasant. “Oh, don’t look so upset, Serenity. You’re with me now, and you are safe.”
Panic clawed, making it hard to remain calm. “I’m not Serenity. I’m Dr. Tessa McGowan.”
He shook his head. “Out there you may be, but in my world you’re Serenity. My perfect doll.”
“I’m not a doll. I’m a woman.”
He stepped back from her. “If you keep scrunching up your face, those wrinkles will stick. Didn’t your mother tell you that?”
“I know you from Terrance Dillon’s funeral.”
“I took care of him as well as Kara and Diane. They didn’t send me Elena. I just found out they’re going to cremate her, but then that’s not such a terrible loss. She ruined her face, destroyed all my beautiful work.”
Beautiful work. She struggled to remain calm. “She got away from you.”
He stepped back, frowning. “Almost. Not quite. I’ll be more careful with you.”
She twisted her hands in the bindings. A part of her wanted to scream and rant, but she could already tell by his reaction to Elena that he didn’t respond well to harsh tones. “I remember you,” she lied as she struggled to place him.
“You do?” He took a step toward her.
She suppressed a flinch. “You were kind. It was a terrible time for me when my mother died.”
“I knew you were upset. Like a broken little doll. I wanted to take you in my arms that day and tell you it would be all right, but I couldn’t. There were too many people. But I kept up with you all these years.”
“You spoke to me,” she lied.
“I was there.”
“Maybe we didn’t speak, but our connection was so strong.”
“Yes.”
It was the utter calmness of his voice that made her want to scream. He was way past insane. And he was going to kill her if she didn’t figure a way out of here.
DeLuca reached for the scissors. “This won’t hurt.”
Tessa tensed and tried to edge away. “Why are you changing me?”
He glanced at the shiny tip of the scissors. “Don’t be scared. You see, I have to cut off your hair. That’s the first step.”
“Before you cut my hair,” she said, quickly, “tell me about the dolls.”
“The dolls?”
“The ones you’ve made. I saw Diane. The work on her face was so detailed. Fascinating. Elena ruined herself. I know that and can’t judge you on that work. But I know you’ve been practicing on other girls.”
He looked pleased as he gently stroked her face with the back of his hand. “They don’t matter. Only you matter.”
“Who were they?”
“Whores. Just whores.”
“I have a hit on DeLuca’s phone,” Andrews said. “A rookie mistake to leave it on at a time like this.”
Behind the wheel of his car, Sharp pushed the accelerator. “Where is it?”
Andrews tapped computer keys. “Very near the funeral home.”
Sharp drove through a red light and raced down the center street, his lights flashing. When he turned the corner toward DeLuca’s, he cut the lights and slowed as the brick funeral home came into view. “I don’t see any activity outside.”
Keys tapped in the background. “Is there a building across the street?” asked Andrews.
Sharp looked and confirmed the building.
More keys tapped. “The building has been vacant for over eighteen months, but DeLuca purchased it six months ago.”
Sharp got out of his vehicle and drew his weapon.
As he moved toward the building, a Jeep rolled around the corner and parked behind him. McLean jumped out with practiced ease, his weapon drawn.
“McLean is here.”
“Roger that.”
Ending the call, Sharp glanced at McLean. “Tessa’s inside. I’m not waiting.”
McLean’s face hardened with a resolve that Sharp hadn’t seen since the battlefield. “Let’s go.”
Tessa flinched when DeLuca ran his fingers through the strands of her hair. His touch was gentle, but she knew his plans involved pain and destruction. “It really is pretty,” he said. “And I’m tempted to keep it, but dolls don’t have real hair.”
“Some do.” She struggled to keep her voice light and her racing heart calm. As he turned toward his instrument table, she glanced at her hand restraints and saw that the buckle on the left side was slightly askew. She thought about Elena’s dislocated thumb and the marks on her wrist. She’d been in this same chair and found a way to free her hands. It was possible.
She twisted both her wrists as DeLuca studied a collection of scissors and razors. She didn’t want him thinking about surgical tools.
“Why did you choose Kara first?” she asked.
“I didn’t. I chose you first.” He turned and smiled at her.
“I don’t understand.”
“I wanted you first. I slipped a sedative in your beer and was waiting for you to drink it. But you took only a couple of sips before you and Kara started to fight. You stormed off, and I followed you. I was afraid the drugs would take hold, and I didn’t want you simply collapsing on the sidewalk.”
She remembered being angry. And then dizzy. Distracted.
“I wanted to help you. I wanted us to get to know each other better. I was right behind you when you left. I saw you start to stagger as you stepped into the street. And then the car hit you. So many people were around you, I couldn’t help you.”
All these years, she thought she’d been distracted and stupid. “So you went back for Kara.”
“I returned to the house just as she stumbled out the back door. She couldn’t have gotten drunk that fast, and then I realized she must have picked up your cup.”
“Did you speak to her?”
He touched the tip of the sharp scissors with his fingers as his eyes got a faraway look. “I walked behind her several blocks. I was mad at her at first. She’d messed up my plans. And then she tripped and fell in the ditch. She started to cry, and it broke my heart. I went to her. My little broken doll. And when I touched her, she looked up and reached out to me. When I took her hand, it was one of the sweetest moments of my life. She collapsed in my arms.”
“That was kind of you.” She struggled to keep her voice even as she remembered Kara’s autopsy pictures.
He looked at her hopefully. “I was nice to Kara. I even had a name for her. It was Felicity. Even though she’d been bad, I was nice.”
“What happened?”
“I carried her to my van. So sweet. She settled in, and I hurried around to turn on the engine and the heater. She looked so cold.”
She wasn’t found for another five days, but she’d been dead less than forty hours when discovered. “It must have been hard to let her go.”
“At first I drove to her dorm and parked. But when I looked at her sleeping face, she looked so sweet. Tears came to my eyes.”
“You couldn’t just leave her for someone else, could you?”
He looked away and turned back toward his worktable. “No. I couldn’t. So I took
her back to my apartment. I laid her on one of the couches in the back and sat with her.”
She twisted her hand in the left cuff and watched with growing desperation as the threads holding the strap together loosened. As he turned, she froze. “How long did she sleep?”
“Overnight.”
“And when she woke up?”
“She was cranky. In such a bad little mood. And I realized then that I missed seeing her sleep. She was such an angel when she slept. I used to love to watch my sisters sleep. So peaceful.”
“What did you do when she awoke?”
