Deadly Fear (Deadly #1)(23)

When her cell phone rang again, Monica was ready. She answered even before the first ring was finished. “Davenport.”

“We traced the cell,” Sam’s voice, high with excitement. “Are you armed?”

What? Her gaze met Luke’s. He stood just across the room, arms crossed over his chest. “I have my weapon here.”

At her words, he took out his own gun.

“The cell phone came up as registered to Laura Billings—”

Dammit.

“We used repeater triangulation to pick up the GPS chip in the phone… Monica, the phone is right outside your room… Whoever called you—”

“Laura Billings is still in the hospital.” Her gun was in her hand, and she hurried for that door. “It’s her attacker, playing a game.”

“Be careful! You don’t know—”

“Dante’s here. I’ve got backup.” She hung up the phone. Took a deep breath. “He called from right outside.”

A muscle flexed in Luke’s jaw.

They went out together. The light near her room flickered, sending out bursts of sickening yellow. Monica’s gaze swept the lot. Left. Right. Left—

The SUV waited just a few feet away. The first place she would have gone to the next morning. The one thing she would have seen.

In seconds, she was at the vehicle. No broken windows. The doors were still locked. Luke covered her while she ran around to the rear.

The phone had been tossed beneath the back tire. It was still on; it had to be so that Sam could track it with the FBI’s satellite.

Damn him. Her gaze swept the lot once more. Long gone now. But he’d wanted her to know. He’d wanted to make absolutely certain that she knew he’d been close enough to touch.

Or to kill.





CHAPTER Six


Monica stared at the body. The closed eyes, the parted lips. The raw and bruised fingertips.

Laura Billings had cheated death once. She hadn’t been so lucky the second time he came calling.

The muffled sound of sobs reached her ears. The mother. Monica’s hands clenched. Mary had thought she’d gotten her daughter back.

So very wrong.

She cleared her throat and forced her gaze to lift from the body and lock on Davis’s hard stare. “What happened.” Not a question. “You had a guard here. Why the hell am I looking at a dead woman?”

Their only witness. Killed when a deputy was less than fifteen feet away.

Unbelievable.

A muscle flexed along the sheriff’s jaw. “If you’re saying my man—”

“We’ve got a dead woman on your watch.” Monica stepped back for the crime scene tech. “That’s what I’m saying.” She could have screamed right then. They’d needed Laura. So close. So close to ID’ing the killer and now—

Now he’d finished his job with Laura. Dammit.

A ripple of movement beside her. “I want to talk to the deputy,” Luke snapped.

Yeah, so did she. She jerked her thumb toward the door. “Outside.” The scent of death was just growing thicker in the room.

Thought I’d managed to save one. Finally.

But the killer had just been waiting. Biding his time—and screwing with me.

She eased around the techs at the door and caught sight of Laura’s parents. Her gut clenched.

Mary’s watery eyes found her. “You… I thought you… s-saved her.”

Staring into those eyes, seeing the pain… Monica swallowed. “I’m sorry for your loss, ma’am.” So cold and brittle. “We’ll do everything in our power to apprehend—”

Mary blinked. She shook her head and seemed to fall apart. “I don’t want him c-caught!” she cried. “I want my baby back!”

Monica turned away. “I need to talk to… that deputy,” she spoke through gritted teeth as her temples throbbed. “And she… needs to be taken away from the crime scene.” Mary didn’t need to see them wheel out her daughter’s body.

Luke pressed his hand against the base of her back, guiding her forward. They rounded the corner and saw more uniforms and nurses. One woman—fresh-faced, pretty, with thick curls—sat huddled behind the desk with her shoulders hunched and her chin down.

Deputy Pope stood next to her, his dark head bent, a trembling hand running over his face. Beside him, another deputy, tall, with a shaved head and a small brown goatee, stood with his hands clenched.

“Vickers!” The sheriff’s voice barked behind her and the taller deputy flinched. “Son, you got one hell of a lot of explaining to do!”

His head whipped up. Pink stained his cheeks and his Adam’s apple bobbed. “I-I swear, sir… I-I didn’t leave my post all night—”

This was so not the place for an interrogation. Too many eyes. Too many ears.

Monica pointed to the small white door across from the nurses’ station. “That the break room?”

Curly nodded.

“Good.” Monica drew in a deep breath. Jesus, she hated the smell of hospitals. “Go in there, deputy.” Once inside, he wasn’t getting out until she figured out exactly what had happened.

He nodded and shuffled forward.

Curly reached for her bag. “I-I’m going home. I’ll talk to you later, Lee,” the nurse said.