The Devil's Daughter (Hidden Sins #1)(80)
You did know. You heard something.
But not soon enough.
She checked to make sure her gun was, in fact, loaded, and then moved to lock the door. I can’t sleep here. The unsub—if that’s who it is, and who else would it be—can get in whenever he wants to. I can’t keep him out. She was fine with the idea of playing bait, but there was a world of difference between going into a situation with guns blazing, so to speak, and lying in that bed and waiting to hear the lock turn as someone broke into her room. She shuddered. I can’t do it. Not that.
Realizing she was stalling, she turned to the basket. It looked like any other gift basket that went out around the various holidays—woven plastic and that crinkly plastic wrap that partially obscured the contents. She moved forward, feeling like she was in a haze, and undid the jaunty ribbon at the top, using the barrel of her gun to ease the plastic wrap down. Eden bit back a scream at what was revealed.
A dismembered bat in a bed of daises.
She took one step back and then another, her stomach lurching into her throat. It was only the fact she hadn’t eaten anything yet this morning that kept her from needing to rush to the toilet. She reached blindly for her phone, dialing while watching the dead bat, half-afraid it would twitch or something. She’d lose it on the spot if it did.
“I’m kind of busy, Eden.”
“Zach.” Was that her voice? She sounded weak and terrified. Eden cleared her throat. “Zach, I—”
Instantly, his tone changed, all anger disappearing. “What happened? Are you okay?”
“Someone broke into my room while I was in the shower.”
“Shit.” On the other end of the phone, tires screeched, and there was a massive amount of background noise like he’d just gone off-road. “I’m coming. Go into the bathroom and lock the door.”
That got her moving again. “I already searched the room. There’s no one here but me.” Now.
“That’s the first step. This is the second time someone’s been in there—that we know of—so he can get in again.” A thump, and the background noise died down, as he must have hit pavement again. “You have your gun?”
“Yes.”
“Good. The second reason you need to go into the bathroom is so you don’t shoot me on accident when I come through the door.”
Eden backed away from the door in question. “I would never shoot you on accident.”
“No, but after our conversation this morning, it might be a little more on purpose than that.”
She knew what he was doing—pushing her to get her back on solid ground—but she still snarled. “Give me a little credit here. One fight doesn’t mean I want to shoot you.” Much.
“I’m ten minutes out. The bathroom, Eden.” His voice dropped. “Please.”
“Okay.” She hung up and started for the bathroom before she realized she was still naked and the shower was still running. She cursed and grabbed the first thing she found—a pair of jeans and a white T-shirt—and walked into the bathroom. Her hands shook as she locked the door and then turned off the shower, but there wasn’t a single thing she could do about it. The longer she waited, the worse the shakes got, until she had to set her gun aside because she was afraid she might actually shoot herself by accident. Guess Zach wasn’t too far off on that one.
She didn’t hear sirens, but exactly ten minutes later there were pounding footsteps down the hallway, and the main door to her room was thrown open. “Eden, it’s me.”
She bit back a borderline hysterical sob and shoved to her feet. “In here.”
He came through the door slowly, as if aware of how close she was to losing it. She let him see her, let him see she was okay—and then she threw herself into his arms. Her body shook despite her mental command for it to remain still. He held her closely, his hand stroking her hair and his voice soothing. “I’m here. You’re safe. I’ll keep you safe.”
She buried her face in his neck, letting his words roll over her. In that moment of weakness, Eden almost believed him. That she was safe, that he would keep her safe.
That she had someone she could truly lean on.
CHAPTER THIRTY
Zach drove to the station, Eden in the passenger seat next to him, his vision painfully clear. He knew it was adrenaline, knew that the letdown would kick him in the ass, but he couldn’t keep it locked down. It was one thing to know Eden was potentially the ultimate victim of this serial killer, but it was something else altogether to know that bastard had been in her room. The gift basket with the dead bat was in the truck, carefully packaged up to preserve what little evidence there might be. He wasn’t optimistic. The only evidence they had to date was beneath Neveah Smith’s fingernails, and they were looking at more than a week’s turnaround time, even with a rush order.
Plenty of time for the killer to finish what he started with Rachel and move on to Eden.
There wasn’t any doubt in Zach’s mind that she was his next target. Everything was escalating to that event, and he could actually feel the seconds slipping through his fingers. Not enough time. There hadn’t been enough fucking time since they’d found Elouise’s body.
Eden tilted her head back against the headrest and closed her eyes. “I’m a little surprised that the unsub killed the bat. It’s a punishable offense in Martha’s world.” She didn’t give him a chance to respond before she cursed. “But then, killing Persephone would be pretty damn frowned upon. With no Persephone, Demeter would ravage the earth with eternal winter. Crops would never grow. Spring would never come. Who the hell would want that?”