“It’s like my twin from another time.” Marina’s voice came out croaky. An unseeing madness swirled in the air shifting through the normalcy of the shop. Her psychic senses strained, sensing the evil vibrations. So close, whispered her mind.
Marina’s first instinct was to clamp her mind closed in fear, but denial hadn’t helped before and two women had lost their lives. She owed them her help. Tentatively, she allowed herself to focus on the vibrations, no longer fighting her gift. Her hand trembled violently and then she realized what was happening. The sensations were coming from the photocopy of the woman.
“They say everyone has a twin. Your twin is a porn star. Fancy that.” Lizzie giggled, unaware of the twilight mood that had descended on Marina.
Marina’s concentration snapped. She frowned. “Shush, Lizzie. I have the strangest feeling.” She didn’t want to explain. There wasn’t time. She had to act while the feeling was on her and try not to get caught up in the fear.
Cautiously, she reached out and touched the woman’s face with her other hand. A vision flashed in front of her mind so compelling that she couldn’t move. There were hands around the woman’s throat crushing the life out of her. The woman, her eyes popping, her mouth gasping for breath clawed at her attacker but she didn’t have the strength to fight back. She wasn’t prepared for the violence and had no way of protecting herself. She loved the man who was strangling the life out of her. Marina could feel her love and confusion. The woman hadn’t expected the attack.
“No,” Marina groaned. Caught in the vice grip of her vision, her strength left her and her knees buckled. She was in the body of the woman feeling her terror, experiencing her death as if her very spirit had traveled through time.
“Marina!” She could hear Lizzie calling her name. She wanted to drop the printout but she had clawed it into a bundle.
Blackness surrounded the edges of her vision. She was dying. The air crushed from her lungs by her unseen attacker.
“Marina. Wake up.”
Marina’s eyes opened but it took her some time to focus on Lizzie’s face, which was streaked with sooty mascara tears. Several people gathered behind Lizzie staring at her.
“She’s had a fit,” she heard someone say.
“Can you hear me?” wailed Lizzie, who kneeled beside her clutching at her shoulders.
She nodded. “What happened?” She was weak and disoriented.
“You went all strange and fainted. You turned blue. I think you stopped breathing.” Marina felt several tears drop onto her face and she was grateful for them. To be in Lizzie’s concerned warmth, her life force, was so much better than the hell she’d been sucked into.
Lizzie wiped her tears away smearing the mascara across her cheeks. “Can you sit? Do you want me to call an ambulance?”
“No.” This time she knew she was all right. She wasn’t going crazy or dying. She realized she’d had another vision just like the last one at the apartment. Only this time she’d traveled to the past. Marina struggled to sit and concentrated on her breathing until the world settled down. On the floor laid the rumpled ball of paper. She didn’t dare touch it. Instead she stared at Lizzie not caring that she blocked the aisle of the busy shop.
“Something terrible happened to the woman in the photo. I’m certain she was murdered.”
Chapter 13
“The next time the police question us we have to insist on having a lawyer present.” James paced the apartment living room. He stopped, pulled out his wallet and took out a business card. “I had an appointment with a criminal lawyer today named Anthony Ford. His advice was not to speak to the police unless he’s with us.”
“Okay,” Marina said, sitting on the arm of the sofa.
Their fingertips touched when he handed her the card. A sense of protectiveness swirled up her arm from his touch—a powerful energy greater than James’s years.
She savored the sensation. It took a moment for her to realize that there was more than just protectiveness in his feelings for her. The hollow area in her chest began to glow. He cared about her. She knew he was attracted to her, but this feeling was more than sexual attraction.
Drained of energy like a battery that needed charging, Marina searched for strength. This murderer had the power to enter her soul, ravage her, destroy her sense of self. She thanked God that James was with her. His quiet strength and protectiveness settled her anxiety. Having him close restored her. If only she could find some way to harness her psychic ability. Her eyes narrowed with anger. She’d use it to hit back at the murderer.
James stalked the room, a worried frown creasing his face. “Marina?”
“Yes?” She started, lost in her own thoughts.
“This lawyer’s got a good name and we’re going to need him. The police are trying to build a case against us. I’m not going to meekly sit back and let them do it.”
“Why didn’t you just tell the police that you were with your mum?”
“I was embarrassed. I’ve tried contacting her online but she hasn’t returned my messages. I have no idea where she is at the moment. Unless I can find her the police won’t buy my alibi. They’re convinced I’m the killer.”
Marina looked at the card and nodded. “You’re right about that. They think I’m finding you victims.” She flopped onto the sofa, her shoulders aching with tension.
James nodded and started pacing again. His mouth tightened. He stopped and turned to her. “It’s insane. Just totally off the air.”
Her gaze locked with his. She propped herself up on one elbow. “I feel like that’s what I’m dealing with. Someone insane. These women who are strangled, they know this man. And worse. They care for him. I can feel their confusion as he kills them. They have no idea he’s a killer.”
James ran his hand through his hair. He was dark under his eyes from sleepless nights. “How’s that information going to help us?” His voice had a frustrated edge to it. He started pacing again.
Marina pushed herself to a sitting position, scowling at him.
James caught the look on her face, walked over and squatted in front of her. “I’m sorry, Marina. I shouldn’t have said that. I’m better dealing in concrete evidence. I’m trying to understand your visions. It’s too out there for me.” He took her hand and gave it a squeeze. “I believe what you’re telling me. I just can’t make sense of it.”
“I’m only just coming to terms with it myself.” She squeezed his hand back, not wanting to let go because she could feel the warmth of his feelings for her. The sensation rushed up her arm. Sensuous. A beckoning distraction. She longed to bask in the pleasant feeling but the brooding menace of the killer dominated her life. She had to focus on that. “It means we’re dealing with a man who can pass himself off in the community as a normal guy.”
“Who is really a psychopath. Think Ted Bundy. Decent family background. Reasonable presentation. Deadly killer.”
Marina shivered. Reluctantly, she let James’s hand go.
James stood, thrust his hands in the pocket of his jeans. “I’m so frustrated. I hate this. I can do the practical things.” He listed them on his fingers. “Get a lawyer, look after you girls when I’m here, keep a log of my movements so I have an alibi, but I can’t damn well make sense of what’s going on with these murders.”
“What’s going on is carefully planned,” said Marina slowly. The feeling that she was being watched wasn’t just in her mind. The cat lady had seen someone climb up the fire escape. “This person must know how we live our lives. Our day-to-day movements.”
James studied her seriously and nodded. “It has to be someone we know.”
“Definitely.”
“That’s what’s driving me nuts.” A vein on James’s temple stood out. Marina could see it throbbing. “The police have me at the scene of the first murder. They don’t believe our alibi for the second.”
“What did the lawyer say about that? Surely that’s not enough to build a case against you.”
James sighed so that his large chest rose and fell. She could see his hard pectoral muscles pressing against his t-shirt. A thread of desire wove its way to her core. When he was troubled, he looked vulnerable and sexy at the same time and she knew the attraction was not one-sided. How much time left would she have with James before their lives were ripped apart? Her heart pattered with panic at the thought. It occurred to her that she didn’t want to waste what time there was.
“Things are worse for me than they initially seemed.” He paused, his expression grim. “I emailed the second victim asking her for a date a week before she was murdered.”
Marina sat rigid. “Oh hell. You emailed Dani? I forgot about that. She mentioned it.”
James nodded. “The police found my email on her computer. Thank goodness she didn’t answer me.”
“Hundreds of guys replied to her bio. She had her photo up on several sites. You weren’t the only one.”
“It’s still evidence, damn it.” James started pacing again. He stopped, slapped his hand against the wall and leaned against it. “The police are building a case against me piece by piece. I don’t know what’s coming next.”
Marina stared at James, her heart heavy. “They know more than we do, that’s for sure. They took wax samples from my cubicle.”
All she had to go on was feelings, her senses and visions. Instinctively, she knew she had to listen to them before more innocent women lost their lives. But who was this deadly individual who was determined to destroy both her and James?
The skin on her bottom lip was dry. She fiddled with it, peeling back a rough patch until it bled. Nervously, she licked the blood off her bottom lip with the tip of her tongue. Except for James and Lizzie, she didn’t know who to trust.
“Does anyone hate you, James?”
“Like enough to set me up?”
She nodded.
He shook his head though his expression was thoughtful. “I don’t like Fabio. I think he’s bad for Lizzie and he knows that.” James’s eyes widened. “That’s it.”
“What?”
“I think Fabio’s the killer. He’s a sicko. He knows what we’re doing because Lizzie’s such a chatterbox.”
Marina paled. “But Lizzie says he’s so sweet with her.”
James pulled a face at her description of Fabio. “I don’t want him near Lizzie,” he said decisively. “If he harms one hair on her head I’ll tear him to pieces.” James’s face had suffused with blood. He started pacing again.
Marina stared at him with a mix of admiration and concern. It wasn’t that she approved of violence. She didn’t. But she liked the way James was prepared to go out on a limb for his sister. She realized he’d do it for her too. She felt safe when he was around. Still, going out with a fire in his belly and no proof of Fabio’s guilt would only land him in trouble.
“You don’t know it’s Fabio.”
“I don’t like that guy.”
“You didn’t like Lizzie dating Fabio before these murders started,” she said, determined to inject some reason into the conversation.
“I’m going to go over there and warn him to stay away from Lizzie. He’s not good for her.”
“You can’t interfere in Lizzie’s love life for no reason. She’s twenty-three.”
“I can if I think the guy’s weird. I’ve done it before.”
“Yes. Lizzie told me you went down and had a word with Michael just because Lizzie said he was looking at her. She was furious. Natalia nearly fired her. Anyway, Michael’s a family man.”
“Rough as guts, that guy.”
“He’s a builder.” What was it with this family? Why did they base so much on looks? Still, she had been guilty of that herself, she realized, thinking of Michael’s yucky tattoos.
“Yeah, so I was wrong,” James conceded.
“And you’re wrong about Fabio. His weird habits don’t make him a murderer,” Marina said firmly.
James crossed his arms in front of his chest, his look defiant. “If he harms a hair on her head, he’s had it.”
Marina picked at her lower lip. She tasted more blood. “You’ll get arrested by the police if you do something stupid. Is that what you want?”
“Lizzie’s worth it.”
She had to keep James from doing something dumb. “You’ll lose Lizzie’s love.”
She knew she’d hit home when James’s hands dropped to his side. The sides of his mouth turned down.
“She hates it when you interfere in her love life. It’s not your business, you know. I mean, I want to interfere too, but I have to shut my mouth and it’s tough. I really care about Lizzie too.”
“But what if Fabio’s the psycho?”
Marina shivered. “I don’t know. I think it’s creepy that he found that pornographic photo of the woman who looks like me. Lizzie said he was totally buzzed when he did it.”
“Yeah. Lizzie told me about it. He’s a sicko.”
She shuddered. “I couldn’t bear it if anything happened to Lizzie. I’d never be able to live with myself. But I doubt you going down to Fabio’s demanding he never see Lizzie again will achieve anything except alienating her.”
James’s green eyes glinted dangerously. “I’d like to take that puffed-up steroid user on.”
“Which will leave the real murderer free to stalk his victims.”
James’s jaw tightened with anger. “The trouble is I’ve got nothing on him to force him to stay away from Lizzie. It’s not like he’s married or something.”
“And you don’t know he’s using drugs. Lizzie said he trains for hours.”
James shot her a black look. “Stop defending him,” he said angrily.
“I’m not,” she fought back. “I’m using common sense and trying to keep you out of prison.”
They glared at each other, though Marina knew it was the tension that was getting to them. She didn’t want to fight with James. What she wanted to do was hold him close, feel his warmth and sensuousness.
“I don’t understand how your last vision is connected with these latest murders? Fabio digs up some porno from the eighties and your visions start all over again.”
“I’m sure she was murdered the same way as the others.” Marina gnawed on her knuckle as she recalled the vision of the woman.
“But that was years ago.”
“I know.”
She forced herself to concentrate on the hideous memory of seeing the woman die. Her face looked bloated. She was fighting for her life. Dying. Turning blue. Eyes bulging. Her fingers clawing for release. Marina’s hands started to tremble again so she clasped them tight. “Only she wasn’t strangled with a cord like the others. The man used his hands. The murder was intimate. It’s so strange. I feel like I’m in the murderer’s head when he’s about to strike.” She took a deep breath to go on. “But when the women are dying, I feel everything they do.”
“How do you know it’s the same man?”
Instead of holding her like she needed, James started pacing.
“It is! It feels like him.” Marina’s voice was laced with agitation. He was too damn logical. She glared at him. Her fingers were icy as if the blood had drained from them.
James stopped and shook his head. He brought one hand up to his face rubbing his cheek and eyes as if somehow the movement would clear away his confusion. “I don’t get it. Why start murdering women again? Why now? Why connect the murders to us? It’s just not logical. I don’t understand who or what I’m dealing with. How can I fight against visions? I can’t even talk about it to my lawyer. He’d put me away.”
Marina stood. Every muscle in her body stiffened with agitation as she struggled to understand what was going on. James’s comments weren’t helping. “I don’t understand it either. I wish I did.” She forced herself to loosen up as she focused on the shadowy sensations that haunted her. “I think these visions are some sort of message. That vision today was a warning—a message from the dead.”
“I wis
h this dead person would just damn well say who is doing this rather than sending an obtuse message I can’t unravel.” He strode over to the other sofa, picked up a cushion, and punched it harder than was necessary before he sat.
Marina walked over to the window and looked out into the darkness. She thought about her situation. It had been so easy to dismiss the first vision and even the next, but that was no longer an option. She turned. “I can’t afford to ignore the visions or think I’m going mad. If I know people are going to die, I have to do something about it. I can’t just let them go to their fate because I can’t live with myself.” Her eyes grew hot with tears. James wasn’t the only one who was frustrated.
“It’s not your fault.” The tension left James’s voice and his expression softened. “You’re not killing these women. You’re not responsible.” He leaned forward in his seat as if he needed to be closer to her.
Marina shook her head and the threatening tears sprang to her eyes. She hugged her arms around herself. “No. That’s where you’re wrong. I could have stopped Dani’s murder. I insisted she not go but I should have been stronger. I should have listened to myself.”
“What were you supposed to say?”
“I should have told her the full story about my visions.”
She didn’t want to tell him what was really getting to her—a nagging, ice-cold fear that woke her in the night. Her throat became thick.
“So what now? You going to take all the blame?”
Her eyes narrowed. “I have to stop this man before it’s too late.”
James frowned and shook his head as if trying to understand her meaning. “Before what’s too late?”
She had to tell him because she couldn’t bear to struggle on alone. “I felt I was being watched the night I trained Lizzie at the salon. The lady who sits on opposite the salon in her wheelchair with her cats saw someone climb the fire stairs outside the building. A man dressed in black.”
James’s face went deathly white. “You never told me this before.” His voice sounded husky with shock.
“Why should I? You don’t seem to get anything I’m telling you,” she said angrily. “These murders. He’s warming up to something bigger and it involves Lizzie and me. I’ve got no proof. Nothing. I can just feel it.”
Dirty Sexy Murder Page 14