by Mary Stone
She sighed. Except, Bethany.
With regret, Katarina untangled her legs from his. “Wish I could stay, but I have commitments.” She leaned over and planted one last kiss on his lips before bounding out of bed.
Clayne’s eyes followed her every move as she gathered her discarded clothes. A flash of self-consciousness over the sight of her recently changed body—curvy and soft in places where muscles once rippled—made Katarina want to turn away. She curled her lip, shaking the inhibition off like a wet dog after a bath. Fretting over someone else’s expectations was a way of giving up power, and Katarina had fought too long and hard for survival to relinquish hers so easily.
Much better to take that power and grow it even more.
With that in mind, Katarina discarded her momentary self-consciousness and instead flaunted her new assets. She eased into each item of clothing, like a reverse striptease. She knew the rule. Always leave them wanting more. His groan told her that she’d been successful in that endeavor, and she hid a grin. Toying with them was half the fun.
“Sure you can’t stay a little longer? I’ll make it worth your while.”
Katarina finished slipping her feet into her shoes and straightened. “I’m sure you would, but I can’t. Next time, maybe.” She tossed a careless wink over her shoulder before heading out of the bedroom.
The front door was only a foot away when footsteps pounded the floor behind her. Clayne lunged ahead, blocking her exit. Katarina studied the large form towering over her. Intimidating, even in his half-dressed state. No fear flickered to life inside her, though. Only curiosity.
“To hell with maybe. I want to see you again.”
Katarina bit her lip in a sensual way designed to drive him mad. Debating. A mental coin toss urged her to take the risk. “If I agree, will you tell me about your business? I’m dying to know more.”
His eyebrows shot up. “Really? Why? You ever deal before?”
At his incredulous expression, her laughter bubbled out. She trailed a single finger down his naked chest. “Trust me, I’ve done more things than you could possibly imagine.”
He leaned back against the door and cocked his head. “I’m all ears. Why don’t you hang back a while and fill me in?”
“I wish I could, but I really do have to go.” Katarina didn’t say why. Bethany was her business.
His features sharpened. That was her only warning before he lunged, slamming Katarina’s back against the door. She gasped as the unexpected contact rattled her spine.
“Are you a cop?” His big hand circled her throat.
Heat surged beneath Katarina’s skin, flushing her arms, her chest. Between her thighs. “No, not a cop.” Her voice sounded odd. Breathless. Not powerful at all. “But I do have some valuable skills that I’d like to put to use again.”
The hand around her neck squeezed, intensifying the growing ache inside her, even as the oxygen flow decreased to her lungs. His face was so close that his warm breath fanned her nose. She smiled into his eyes, enjoying the way they turned from blue to black as his pupils dilated.
He squeezed harder, making the corners of her vision blur and the throbbing between her legs intensify. With her right hand, she reached out and found the bulge in his pants. Her lungs burned from scant air as she stroked him through the fabric, her desire spiraling higher the more he grew from her attention.
The sensations that rolled through her were almost too much to bear, a type of exquisite agony. Not pleasure, not pain, but a magical combination of both. As black spots drifted before her eyes and her brain turned fuzzy, a fleeting question materialized in Katarina’s mind.
Why do I feel the most alive only when I’m so close to death?
After one last squeeze, Clayne loosened the grip on her neck, only to pry up her chin. Katarina’s legs trembled as he growled and mashed his mouth to hers. His sharp teeth dug into her lower lip, biting down hard until warm salt laced their kiss and new sensations burst to life inside her, igniting her like a match to a forest. Hot. Rough. Delicious.
Violent.
He ground his pelvis against hers, and she arched up against him, pressing equally hard, shoving his force right back at him. After a long, satisfying kiss, she wrenched away, panting. “I really have to go now.”
His fingers dug into her upper arms when he yanked her back to his chest. “You’d better not be lying to me. In my book, the only good cop is a dead cop.”
His full lips took on a cruel twist, but Katarina wasn’t worried. No one would ever mistake her for a cop for long. “Guess I’m safe then.”
“We’ll see. I have a test for you. I’ll let you know when I’m ready.”
She patted his cheek. “You do that. Now, I’m out of here.”
He studied her face for another few moments before stepping aside. Katarina opened the door and sauntered down the walkway to her car, her smile widening with every step. Her hand flew to her throat, her fingers stroking the still-tingling skin.
That was the way to beat boredom in this rural Wyoming snore of a town. So long as Katarina was careful, she could have the best of both worlds: a life with her daughter and a life full of manageable risks with Clayne.
She slid behind the wheel and turned over the ignition. Her mind raced. Calculated risks were the key. A little danger here and there would help Katarina be a better mother. Like letting off steam to prevent the entire engine from exploding. Because one thing Katarina had learned over the past few months was that she wasn’t built for a quiet, dull life. Her brain simply wasn’t wired that way.
As she drove the darkening road toward Bethany, she tapped out a rhythm on the steering wheel, her brain bright and clear for once. If she approached her actions from the perspective of harm reduction, they made perfect sense. Wild sex with Clayne while dipping her toes into his business and creating a lucrative little business for herself. Those choices were infinitely smarter than caving to her inner darkness and murdering dog walkers who strolled by her house.
This way, Katarina could feed the monster Kingsley had created in a way that wouldn’t threaten her life with Bethany.
Clayne Miller was the solution to all her problems. He just didn’t know it yet.
17
Ellie sipped from her bottled water before replacing the lid and turning her attention back to the surly man slouching in the chair opposite her. They’d been facing off in the stark, chilly interrogation room for over an hour now.
So far, John Garrett refused to cooperate, but the night was young. Since he’d also failed to ask for his lawyer, even after signing his Miranda rights form, questioning would continue.
She folded her hands on the table and started again. “What can you tell me about Dani Snyder?”
Garrett shrugged. About the most reaction she’d elicited so far.
“You remember Danielle Snyder, right? The pink wallet in your shoebox? Here, let me jog your memory.” Ellie slid a photo of Dani across the table, along with a photocopy of her school ID.
The prisoner’s gaze flickered to the photo before darting away.
“Look, I can work with the D.A. to cut you a deal if you help us find her. Where are you hiding Dani, John?”
No response, even though his gaze drifted back to the photo.
Ellie gritted her teeth and sifted through her notes. Time for a new line of questioning. “How about you tell me why you called Dani’s father earlier today, pretending to be her?”
Garrett’s head jerked up at the question. Ellie searched the meth-scabbed face and read genuine confusion in his creased brow. Now that was interesting. Either Garrett possessed superb acting skills, or the man was clueless about the call to Charles Snyder.
As she studied the sallow skin, the lips erupting in open sores, and the involuntary muscle twitches, Ellie started to wonder. Did a pathetic meth addict like Garrett have the chops to mastermind a scam like this? Maybe once upon a time, but now? Highly unlikely.
She hid a frown by preten
ding to read the file. At the very least, someone else was involved. Ellie would bet on it. And since they had zero leads on that front, she needed Garrett to talk.
Time to twist the screws.
After flipping through the file, Ellie spotted the information she wanted. She slid the report free and waved the paper at him. “The lab matched your shoe size to the prints at the scene of Dani’s disappearance. Another girl, Dani’s friend, died that day. Roxanne.”
Garrett shifted in his chair while Ellie dug through the evidence file for a photo of Roxanne. She held up the picture. “You remember Roxanne, right? Pretty blonde girl, at the playground that night with Dani?”
When Garrett refused to lift his head, fire pulsed in Ellie’s cells. She slammed her fist on the table. The bang echoed off the bare walls and made Garrett jump. “Look at her picture. Look at it.”
Garrett glanced up from the floor and gulped air when he focused on the likeness of Roxanne. Sweat beaded on his forehead.
Progress. Finally. Ellie leaned forward, ready to play her ace. “You know what I think?” She softened her voice to a tone closer to sympathetic. “I believe you were there that night, at the park, and you intended to take both girls, but something happened. Roxanne struggled, and she fell and hit her head. It wasn’t murder, right, John? Just a terrible accident.”
Ellie had his full attention now, so she paused to sip her water. Drawing the tension out before delivering the death blow. She shrugged and expelled a sad sigh. “Unfortunately, the D.A. has you pegged for her murder. He’s going to throw the book at you, John. Unless…”
She shook her head, sighed again, and slid Roxanne’s photo back into the file.
“Unless what?”
Elation surged through her limbs. She had him hooked. Now, to reel him in.
Firming her lips to hide her smile, Ellie met his gaze. “Unless you cooperate and help us find Danielle Snyder or tell us anything that might lead us to her whereabouts. If you do that, the D.A. might be persuaded to go easier on you. Otherwise…”
Ellie lifted her palms. Garrett closed his eyes and clenched his fists, appearing to wage an internal battle.
When he opened them again, he inhaled a ragged breath. “Okay. I know stuff.”
He cut off, his head twitching violently.
“I’m afraid I’m going to need you to tell me a little more than that.” Ellie waited with her hands balled into her lap. Come on. Don’t chicken out now.
“Fine. I know stuff about a trafficking ring. But that’s all I’m gonna say until I get some promises about my charges. No deal, no information.”
Ellie bit her lip to temper her excitement. “Okay. I’ll go talk to the D.A. now and see what we can do.”
She gathered up her files and headed out of the room. Once the door clanked shut, she pumped her fist in the air and released a lungful of air.
“Nice work, Kline.” Fortis clapped her on the back. “Now hurry your ass to the D.A. before our scumbag changes his mind.”
Ellie did as she was told. Thirty minutes later, she had the terms of the D.A.’s deal. She called to let Fortis know as she strode down the hallway. They reached the interrogation room at the same time.
“You ready for round two? This is it. You either get this guy talking now or risk him zipping his lips for good.” Fortis loomed over her, his mouth taut with the same tension lacing Ellie’s entire body.
She released a slow breath. “Gee, no pressure or anything, right?”
Fortis snorted. “This job is all pressure, all the time. You know that as well as anyone.”
She did. Good thing Ellie performed best under tense circumstances. “I’ve got this.” She headed back into the cramped room, determination tightening her jaw. Finding Dani depended on getting Garrett to talk. Failure wasn’t an option.
Garrett glanced up when Ellie settled back into the chair, which she took as a hopeful sign. “Okay, we have a deal. No murder charges on Roxanne, on the condition that you provide us with information we can use.”
The man nodded. Twitched a few times. Then started speaking. “It was like you said. When I saw the two girls in the park, I was gonna take both of them. That was my job that night. Two girls, not one.”
Questions reared in Ellie’s head, but she held her tongue and jotted down a note for later.
“The blonde one…uh…” He picked at a scab on his chin.
“Roxanne,” Ellie provided gently, even though she wanted to scream the name at him, make it ring in his mind forever.
“Yeah, Roxanne. She tried to run. When I grabbed her, she tripped and hit her head on that concrete wall. I went over and checked, thinking maybe I could salvage, uh, save her, but she was already dead.”
When he didn’t go on, Ellie folded her hands on the table. “You said your job was two girls, not one. What did you mean?”
“An order came in for two girls, so that’s what I went out to do. That was my job. Grabbing the girls so that the order could be fulfilled.”
An order…for girls. Like they were a side of fries on a fast-food menu.
This time, Ellie gulped her water, hoping to wash away the filthy taste lingering in her mouth. “What order? Can you tell me how that worked?”
Garrett shrugged. “It was part of a trafficking ring. The leader took the orders and then sent people like me out to help fulfill them. Like, maybe one client asks for a blonde woman in her twenties. Or someone wants two dark-skinned girls, no older than eighteen. Fat girls, skinny girls, rich bitches, you name it. One of the clients probably requested it at some point.”
The way Garrett offered up the information so matter-of-factly made Ellie’s skin crawl. “But that night, you only came back with one.”
Garrett scowled. “Yeah, and the head guy was pissed as hell at me too. Like it was my fault she hit her head and croaked. If getting girls was so easy, why didn’t he get off his rich ass and do it himself?”
His nostrils flared before his anger subsided, leaving a pinched expression behind that Ellie struggled to comprehend. “The boss was so mad, I had to go into hiding because of that night. He was gonna kill me if I stayed. I could hear it in his voice.”
He shivered, and Ellie finally understood. Fear. Even now, this hardened man was still scared of his old boss. What kind of man provoked such an extreme reaction? All these years later?
A premonition flitted over Ellie’s skin like a frigid breeze. She swallowed hard. “Who is he, John? The ringleader?”
Garrett shivered again and then shrugged. “Dunno. Never saw his face. Only thing I know is that he used to go by a nickname. Dr. X.”
All the oxygen was sucked from the universe, and Ellie struggled to breathe. She splayed her fingers on the table, attempting to find some sense of balance in a world that had begun to spin.
Dr. X. Or as Ellie knew him…Dr. Kingsley. The moment Garrett spilled the name, Ellie knew he was telling the truth. The pieces fit so perfectly.
She dropped her pen to the floor to buy time to pull herself together. When she sat back up, her face was composed.
“Okay, so you brought back Dani and then disappeared. What happened to her?”
“The buyer wanted the girls for films.”
He shrugged again, making Ellie want to slam her hands down on his shoulders and squeeze until he started caring about the lives of the girls he’d condemned to such horrific fates. Films. Sure. Her stomach hurt at the thought of telling Charles and Elaine that their baby had been sold into a porn ring.
“I recognized Dani later in a snuff film I bought on the web. They found some other chick to star with her.” He snorted. “There’s always another girl.”
Ellie regulated her breathing in a vain attempt to curb the intense emotions exploding inside her. A porn ring had been awful enough, but a snuff film? Sick beyond compare.
Garrett rattled on, oblivious to Ellie’s inner distress. “It was one of those fight-to-the-death setups, you know? Sorta like Hunger Games. One
girl wins, one girl dies. The girl I grabbed won the fight.”
He paused to preen a little, like he was proud of this fact. Ellie clenched her fists and imagined the satisfying crunch his nose would make if she punched him.
“But then they went ahead and killed her too.”
Ellie forced the question from her lips. “How?” She didn’t want to know, but she had to.
“Slow. The executioner took his time, made a whole show of it. He started by dipping her hands into bowls of acid, then her feet. He kept working his way up until he finally shoved her into a barrel of acid, right up to her chin.” His expression softened as he reminisced, a smile curving his festering lips. “The guy was a master. Didn’t let her screaming get him all worked up, just kept working her over, nice and slow.”
Forget punching. Ellie’s muscles tensed with an urge to lunge across the table and end him. The sick bastard was enjoying his memory of Dani being tortured to death. He deserved to pay.
Ellie found her center, breathing her rage out through her nose. He deserved to pay, but that wasn’t her job. Her job was to serve and protect the community. Not revenge. No matter how tempting the desire might be.
“Can you show us how to find this video?”
“I can do better than that. I’ve got my own copy.”
Ellie’s lip curled into a snarl. A red film coated the room, and the sound that spilled from her mouth was pure rage.
“Ellie!”
A gentle hand wrapped around her upper arm and the contact snapped her free. She blinked, shocked to note that she was on her feet and leaning over the table. Garrett cowered in his chair, his eyes wide and frightened.
“A word, please?”
Clay gave a gentle tug on her arm. She dropped her gaze to her hands, noticed they were clenched into fists. With a shaky breath, she released them, and without another glance at Garrett, she allowed Clay to guide her from the room. The second the door clanked shut, Ellie collapsed against the cool metal.