“That’s good.”
It was, but he could still hear the sadness in her voice. Mack had been shot by the men who wanted to get to her. Karina would see that as her fault.
It wasn’t.
Maybe he’d be able to make her understand that.
“The San Antonio cops are going through Sarah’s place,” Cord continued. “They’re hoping to find out where she could be hiding. And why.”
He especially wanted to know the why.
He shook his head. “I don’t understand it. Sarah came there to that diner. She spilled all those details of what’d happened to Addie and me. So, why did she just run off like that?” Climbing out of a window, no less.
“Maybe something spooked her,” Karina suggested. “If you want to know what I think, though, I believe she’s telling the truth. If you want to know for sure, I stole the tissue she’d used and put it in the pocket of my jeans. You can use it to do a DNA test.”
“You did what?” But he waved off his question. He’d understood just fine. “I didn’t see you take her tissue.”
“I have sneaky fingers.” With that, her gaze dropped down to her hands. They were spotless, but she could no doubt still see the blood that’d been there.
“I killed a man,” she whispered.
“You killed a bad man. That doesn’t count.” But he knew it counted. Knew that it would stay with her for the rest of her life.
Because he’d killed several bad men, too. He remembered each one of them. Their faces. The blood. And even now, it twisted his gut.
She reached for him, motioning for him to come closer.
Uh-oh. Cord figured he should just turn around and walk out. With the morning light slipping through the edges around the blinds, he had no trouble seeing every one of Karina’s bruises. That cut, too. No trouble seeing the worry still in her eyes, either. The energy was practically zinging between them.
She was in no shape for what he was thinking about doing. Which meant he should leave her alone so she could try to get some more rest. Then he could fix her some breakfast and pretend that all was right with the world.
But he didn’t walk out.
Instead, he gave trouble an engraved invitation and sank down onto the bed next to her.
Karina seemed to know exactly what that invitation meant because she reached out, pulled him closer and kissed him. It was a tentative kiss, not much of a real one.
So, Cord made it real.
Mindful of her bruises—but just as mindful of the need he felt in her—he dragged her to him and kissed her until there was no turning back.
She made a sound of pleasure. He’d heard it when he’d kissed her before, but it was lot hotter now than then. His body seemed to take that as a challenge, to make that sound even louder.
Stupid, yes. But it worked.
It felt as if Karina melted in his arms, and for the first time in ages, the flashbacks weren’t in his head. Nor the images he wanted to forget. The only thing in his head was her.
He kept kissing her until they both needed more. It was easy to give more since she was half dressed. Wearing his T-shirt. He pushed it up and found a naked woman beneath.
Oh, man.
Just the sight of her nearly had him rushing this. His body was pushing him to take her now. But he could also see bruises on her rib cage and stomach.
Cord kissed each one. Softly. Gently. Then, he went lower and planted some not-so-gentle kisses there.
He heard her make that sound again. Louder. Much more urgently. Something he understood, but he wanted to linger a few moments longer. Wanted this to last a lot longer than his body was urging.
But Karina had a different notion about that.
She caught on to his arm, pulling him back up, his body sliding over hers to create some interesting friction. Yeah, this had to happen soon.
Karina must have thought so, too, because she yanked off his shirt. Cord went stiff for a second, bracing himself in case the scars killed the mood. They didn’t. With her gaze connected to his, she lowered her head and kissed the scars, the way he’d kissed her bruises.
That did it. No more foreplay.
Karina and he were clearly on the same page about that because she went after his zipper. He was barefoot, so that made it easier to get his jeans off. Well, it would have been easier if she hadn’t kept kissing him the whole time.
“Condom,” he growled. He sat up, fumbling around to locate one in the nightstand drawer.
Later, he’d tell her that he hadn’t put them there, that they’d been in the drawer when he first started staying at the guesthouse.
Later, he’d tell her a lot of things.
For now, though, he just managed to get on the condom, and he pulled her onto his lap so that his weight wouldn’t put pressure on her bruises. She lowered herself, easing her body onto him until she took him inside her.
Cord had to take a second to catch his breath.
He’d known it would be special with Karina, but he hadn’t expected to feel this. And he didn’t have that thought for long. Every logical thought in his head vanished when they started to move together.
The face-to-face position was right for him to kiss her, so that’s what he did. He took her mouth, touching her, moving her harder and faster against him. Time seemed to stop and yet speed up, too.
Until he felt her climax ripple through her body.
Cord hadn’t needed much more incentive to finish this, but that was it. He gathered Karina into his arms, pulling her to him, and he let himself go right along with her.
* * *
IT WAS SILLY, but Karina kept smiling.
It’d been a long time since she’d been with a man, and never like that. Never. Which didn’t make it just silly, it made her stupid.
Mercy.
She’d fallen in love with Cord.
How the heck could she have let herself do that? The answer didn’t come even when Karina held her head under the shower for so long that her lungs started to ache for air. She’d hoped if she could just clear her mind, she might be able to get a handle on this.
But no handle.
Just some really great sex with a hot guy whom she loved.
Of course, he didn’t feel the same way about her. How could he? Cord still thought she was defending a serial killer. Plus, many would say they didn’t even know each other that well. They’d only met a month ago.
However, even after spelling all of that out, her feelings hadn’t changed. And wouldn’t. Yes, that broken heart was breathing down her neck now.
She finished her shower and dressed in yet more of Addie’s borrowed clothes. After packing the things at her place, Karina had ended up leaving them behind when Cord and she had rushed out of there. Thankfully, someone had dropped off her meds, so at least she had those, but it was too bad she couldn’t feel just a little bit normal in her own things. But after what’d happened the last time she was at her rental house, she wasn’t eager to go back.
Karina made her way toward the kitchen, following the scent of coffee. And eggs. Cord was at the stove, cooking, while he had his phone sandwiched between his shoulder and ear.
“Yeah, I’ll tell her,” he said to the caller, and as if he’d known all along she was there, he glanced back at her. “Hungry?”
Not even close, but she nodded, smiled. Hoped that she looked seminormal. “What are you supposed to tell me?” she asked, motioning toward the phone that he was in the process of putting away.
“That was the ranch hand out at your place. Your horses are fine.”
It was the second time he’d checked on them for her. Something she greatly appreciated. But when he turned, she saw something else in his eyes. Something she didn’t believe had anything to do with what had jus
t happened between them in the bedroom.
“Is something wrong with Willie Lee?” she asked, trying to tamp down her fears. Hard to do that, though, after everything that had happened.
“No word from the doctor yet.” He paused, dished her up some scrambled eggs. “This isn’t exactly a good conversation to have over breakfast, but Jericho called. Harley’s missing.”
Well, that wasn’t what she’d been expecting, and at first, she thought maybe it was a good thing. Especially after they’d learned about what had gone on with him in the army. But Cord’s face told a different, less-than-happy story.
“When Jericho sent a deputy over to question Harley,” Cord continued, “they found blood on the floor and no sign of him.”
She thought about that for a second while she poured herself some coffee. “What about DeWayne? Is he okay?”
It was a reasonable question considering that two of their suspects, and his mother, were now missing.
“I don’t know about okay,” Cord answered. “DeWayne’s alive, but he’s talking to the press and bad-mouthing you, me, Jericho and anybody else who had anything to do with Taryn, the Moonlight Strangler or Willie Lee.”
That was a long list of people, but it did lead her to a strong possibility. “You think DeWayne could have done something to Harley?”
Cord shrugged, and they sat down to eat. “I think anything’s possible when it comes to those two. But it’s also equally possible that the Bloody Murder club is behind this. Maybe they think I’m not working hard enough to clear Willie Lee’s name, and if they give us enough copycat kills, I’ll start to believe them.”
Karina didn’t get a chance to respond to that because his phone rang, and she saw the caller ID on the screen.
The prison.
Karina automatically moved closer. Not that it was necessary, though. Like before, Cord put the call on speaker.
It was Dr. Kenney.
“Willie Lee is stabilized now,” the doctor immediately told them. “And while I still don’t think it’s a good idea for him to have visitors, he’s insisting on seeing you two right away.”
“Why?” Cord asked. “Did he get his memory back?”
“Yes. And he has something important to tell you.”
That brought Karina to her feet. “What?”
“I wrote down the message word for word,” Dr. Kenney continued. “Willie Lee says, ‘I’m not the Moonlight Strangler, but I believe I know who is. I think it could be my brother.’”
Chapter Sixteen
Cord was a thousand percent sure that returning to the prison was a bad idea, but there was no way he was going to pass up the chance to question Willie Lee about this latest bombshell.
Or maybe it was just a lie.
After all, Willie Lee clearly loved Karina, and maybe this was his way of saving face with her by trying to make her believe he was innocent.
Of course, that meant bringing Karina with him, since she wanted to hear what Willie Lee had to say, as well. With the memory of the attack still so fresh in her mind, Cord had hoped she would stay at the ranch.
No such luck, though.
She was right by his side again as they started the process to get them through security.
“You’re sure Willie Lee never mentioned anything about having a brother?” It wasn’t the first time he’d asked Karina that. The first time had come shortly after the doctor’s call, but Cord was hoping that the thirty-minute drive out to the prison had jogged her memory.
But just like before, she shook her head. “Then again, he didn’t mention having kids, either,” she reminded him.
Yeah, failing to tell anyone about a brother wouldn’t have been much of a stretch after that. The man could have a dozen siblings for all Cord knew. Plus, there were plenty of other things that Willie Lee had omitted. Maybe he would blame that on his fuzzy memory, but he’d clearly remembered something.
I’m not the Moonlight Strangler, but I believe I know who is. I think it could be my brother.
Cord hoped Willie Lee had a name to go along with the accusation. And while he was hoping, maybe this mystery brother would be someone the cops could arrest before Karina and he even finished this visit.
“We should ask Willie Lee about Lonny Ogden, too,” Karina added as they made their way through the second checkpoint. “I’m sure it’s something Addie would want to know.”
Cord certainly hadn’t forgotten that name. Hadn’t forgotten that he had another half sibling out there.
Well, maybe he did.
Lonny Ogden was flat-out crazy, and that wasn’t just Cord’s opinion. Ogden had been committed to a mental hospital, where he would likely spend the rest of his life, and he didn’t know any more about his birth parents than Cord did. However, Cord, Addie and Willie Lee all shared DNA with Ogden. That was a fact. And it was enough DNA that it was possible Ogden was Cord and Addie’s half brother.
Once they made it all the way back to the hospital section, there was a guard there who motioned for them to take a seat by the nurses’ station. “Dr. Kenney said for you two to wait here, that she’ll be out soon to take you in to see the inmate.”
Hell. Cord didn’t want to wait. Or sit. He had way too much restless energy inside him so he started to pace. Karina paced with him.
“If you want to get your mind off this,” she proposed, “we could talk about what happened this morning.”
He doubted she was referring to the phone calls now. No. One look at her, and he knew this was the talk.
Of course, he’d expected it. Cord seriously doubted Karina was the sleeping-around type. Neither was he. But despite that, they’d landed in bed for exactly what he’d known it would be—great sex.
“Or maybe we won’t talk about it,” Karina added when she studied his face. “What, did you think I was expecting some kind of commitment? Because I’m not.” She suddenly got very interested in looking at her fingernails. “I just wanted to make sure you’re, well, okay with it?”
“Are you?” he asked.
She nodded. Patted his arm. The gesture was a little too quick, her smile a little too thin, which meant she wasn’t okay with it. However, that wasn’t what she said.
“It worked.” She gave him another thin smile. “I got your mind off the rest of this mess.”
He flinched a little at having sex lumped into this mess, but she was right. Just the mention of the talk that he wasn’t ready to have had gotten his mind off Willie Lee. But it didn’t take long for the thoughts and questions to creep right back in.
So much to consider.
“What if Willie Lee really does have a brother?” Cord decided to say that out loud, hoping it would help him work through it. “And what if the brother was the stalker Sarah told us about?”
The one who’d cut Addie’s face.
Something that still turned Cord’s stomach. That ate away at him even more than Sarah or him being in danger when that stalker had taken them. Of course, now he had a new reason for his stomach to twist and knot because every time he looked at Karina, it was yet another reminder that he hadn’t been able to stop this monster.
Heck, he didn’t even know if they were dealing with two killers or one.
Karina nodded, and made a sound of agreement after she gave what he said some thought. “You’re thinking this brother could also be the Moonlight Strangler? If it’s not Willie Lee, that is,” Karina quickly added.
It was exactly what he was thinking. And that took Cord back to their three suspects. “All of them, Harley, Rocky and DeWayne, are the right age to be Willie Lee’s brother.”
Maybe even Ogden’s father.
And that meant they were all the right age to be the Moonlight Strangler.
“All of them have sketchy pasts,” Cord went
on. “Harley failed that psych eval. Rocky is a serial-killer groupie. And DeWayne had a personal connection to at least two of the murder victims. Any of them could have started killing back when all that happened with Sarah.”
And just kept on killing.
However, Karina must have seen a flaw in his theory right away because she shook her head. “Wouldn’t Sarah have known if her own brother-in-law was the one stalking her and attacking her?”
“Maybe not. She said he wore a stocking mask. And besides, maybe Willie Lee and he were estranged.”
There was another possibility, though. Perhaps Willie Lee knew exactly who—and what—his brother was and had maybe tried to keep him away from his family. After all these weeks of hating him, it was hard to paint Willie Lee in that kind of positive light, but it was something Cord had to consider.
“I should also have Jericho look in to Rocky’s adoption. And have him check deeper into Harley and DeWayne, too. It’s possible their birth records are fake.”
Having that information would help to prove or disprove what Willie Lee would tell them, but it was also info that could be needed when they made an arrest.
Which would perhaps happen today.
Cord reached for his phone to make that call, only to remember that he didn’t have his phone. Or his gun. It was prison policy that all electronics and weapons be left with the guards at the front entrance.
The door to the hospital room opened, and Dr. Kenney finally stepped out. She looked exhausted, probably because she’d been nursing her patient back to health.
Cord skipped the usual greeting. “Can we see him now?”
“Yes.” The doctor motioned for them to come in.
Cord stepped inside, his attention going straight to the bed where he’d last seen Willie Lee. He was still there.
But he wasn’t alone.
There was someone standing right beside him.
Sarah.
* * *
KARINA CERTAINLY HADN’T expected to see Sarah Prior at the prison. Not after she’d sneaked out of the bathroom. But here she was.
And she was holding Willie Lee’s hand.
Laying Down the Law Page 15