Keep Me Safe (Slow Burn #1)(19)

“That makes no goddamn sense,” he said, voicing his earlier thoughts. “I swear I want to shake you. That’s the dumbest thing I have ever heard. You are not responsible for the decisions a maniac makes. You are not responsible for him torturing, degrading and ultimately killing his victims. Do you honestly think he would just quit after you? Hell, he’d think himself invincible if he managed to bring down the one woman who’s proven to be his biggest challenge. And I’d be willing to lay odds that’s why he’s so obsessed with you. Because other victims are easy. They offer him no challenge. He enjoys the chase and the fact it has proven so difficult. It will only make him that much more egotistical if he does succeed in killing you. He’s going to believe he’s invincible. God of his own twisted universe. Because after you, how could he fail to bring down his next target? He’s become obsessed with you because you’re his Holy Grail.”

He knew he’d scored a point with his logic. Ramie frowned, her gaze thoughtful. Her hand went still, her fist pressing hard into her thigh. She chewed on her bottom lip and then let out a long sigh, closing her eyes as fatigue and stress marred her forehead.

“I guess I never imagined beyond him being able to capture me.”

She nodded slowly as she said the next, opening her eyes and fixing her gaze at some distant point beyond him.

“But no, you’re right. I think he would only get worse, grow bolder and more confident once he managed to do away with me for good. I’m a thorn in his side. No one has ever come as close as I did to capturing him, or even figuring out who he is, and there seems to be no connection between his victims. No similarities, personality traits. Nothing. Just a thirst for torture and degradation that has his victims wishing for death.”

“Do you know his name? Any identifying information?”

She threw him an impatient look. “Don’t you think if I knew how to find him that I would have already done so? I’d kill him myself and damn the consequences if it meant eradicating his presence on earth. I’d willingly spend the rest of my life in prison if it meant no more women had to suffer the torture he so loves to heap on his victims.”

He frowned. Not only at the utter conviction in her voice, but because he didn’t understand.

“But you were so specific when you gave me the information on how to locate my sister even though he too slipped from our grasp. It was a case of misfortunate timing, because the police burst in when her kidnapper had left for a short period of time, and with so many police surrounding the house, he would have been alerted to their presence if he tried to return.”

“He’s not like the others,” she said wearily. “I told you earlier that I think he may have psychic abilities of his own, but you probably think I’m crazy.”

Caleb held up a hand. “I don’t think you’re crazy at all. I believed in your abilities before I ever met you.” He hesitated before saying the rest, because his sister’s own psychic ability was a very closely guarded secret within his family. But he also felt it would go a long way in helping Ramie trust him. If he first offered her his trust.

“Tori has psychic gifts. It’s why I had no problem believing in yours. Though, even if I hadn’t been a confirmed believer you’ve been one hundred percent accurate in all of the cases you’ve assisted on.”

Ramie’s eyebrow shot upward. “Your sister is psychic?”

“In a manner of speaking, yes. But let’s go back to why you think the guy stalking you is psychic.”

Ramie rose from the bed as if she couldn’t remain still a second longer. She mimicked his earlier actions, pacing back and forth, concentration marring her features.

“There’s no other logical explanation.” She laughed a dry, brittle sound that in no way reflected amusement. “What you don’t understand about my abilities—one of the many things you didn’t or don’t understand—is that my connection to the victim and their attacker doesn’t go away immediately.”

Caleb felt himself pale as blood leached from his face. “What does that mean exactly?”

“It means that I maintain a connection to both killer and victim. Sometimes for hours. Sometimes for days. Or in the case of the man stalking me, the connection has never truly been severed.”

“Dear God,” he whispered, “so your torment goes long beyond what you initially experience. How in God’s name do you survive it?”

She shrugged as though it was no big deal, but Caleb knew better. He knew how long it had taken Tori to regain a semblance of her old self and she was still dealing with the aftermath an entire year later. And Ramie didn’t endure it once, like the victims she helped did. She went through it time and time again and now she was telling him that her link wasn’t severed when she rid herself of whatever article she touched in order to pinpoint a victim’s location?

It didn’t bear thinking about. How the hell had she survived this long without having a complete breakdown? But by all appearances she’d done just that eighteen months ago. And then so close on the heels of that, Caleb had appeared, dragging her right back into the hell she was so desperately trying to escape.

And then he understood what she wasn’t telling him or perhaps what he hadn’t understood until now. His eyebrows lifted, registering his shock.

“You still have an established link to him.”