Page 74 of Lethal Attraction

“Stop! HELP!”

I begin to saw off her finger, my lips pulling over my teeth as the blade cuts through her like butter. I think I’ve found my new favorite weapon as I get to the bone. I hit a barrier, but that’s nothing I can’t fix with a little brute force. I bend her digit back, snapping it before continuing and severing the whole thing from her hand.

“Oh my god!” she shrieks with a scratchy voice. “HELP ME!”

Her blood soaks into the paperwork on her desk as I pocket my souvenir. “As much fun as I’m having, I need to make this quick. You’re going to ruin it before I’ve even started.”

She falls out of her chair (very ungracefully) onto the dirty floor. She’s still whining, crying, and screaming as she begins to pull herself along the tiles towards the door.

I ease back against her desk and cross my ankles as I watch her get to the threshold. Once I see the hope return to her eyes, I step over her, ball her hair into my fist, and rip her head back.

“This is for Reed. You should never have touched what belongs to me.” I hiss in her ear before cutting her throat and dropping her.

She gurgles, her body twitching as blood pools beneath her. I dip my finger into the essence before using it to write a very clear message on the wall of her office.

Chapter twenty

Reed

Abuser.

The one word written on Galene’s office walls when her body was discovered earlier today. That whole section of the hospital is covered in yellow tape and was restricted the moment authorities arrived. Everyone was stunned by the violent death of the hospital’s director.

As Burton communicated quietly to whoever he was on the phone with, I stared in stunned silence at the massacre. Not because I couldn’t believe it, but because I didn’t want to think of who could have done something of that caliber with little to no time.

Someone dangerous.

Someone like—

“Reed.”

I blink myself to the present, turning to face Taryn. “Huh?”

She frowns off into the distance. “They’re leaving.”

I follow her sight to the crime scene cleanup crew, the detectives, and the cops all packing their things. The yellow tape is yanked off the doorway of Galene’s office as if nothing ever happened.

“Why are they leaving?” I ask quietly.

My friend shakes her head. “I have no idea. They never end an investigation this early.”

None of this makes any sense…

I push forward, flagging down a detective. “Excuse me!”

A man with short, curly hair turns to me as he dismisses himself from the group of investigators. “How can I help you?”

I tuck my hands into the pockets of my coat. “Uh, we were wondering about the case—”

“No case here,” the detective says firmly. “It’s been ruled a suicide.”

My head rears at the absurdity. “Suicide? How—”

“Listen,” he sighs, “we just follow protocol. Everything points to an apparent suicide. She was cheating on her husband, and her fingerprints are all over the weapon used. It’s unfortunate, but that’s just how some of these cases go.”

My brain is still buffering. I can’t quite catch up with anything he’s saying because it doesn’t make any damn sense! They never even tested the DNA. They’ve only been here long enough to clean up and cover Galene in a body bag. There should be more steps to this, right?

“So you mean to tell me that DNA testing only takes a couple of minutes?” I ask incredulously.