Showing posts with label Night Shade series. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Night Shade series. Show all posts
Night Shift by Carey Decevito
Title: Night Shift (Night Shade 2)
Author: Carey Decevito
Genre: Contemporary Erotic Romance/ Romantic Suspense
Release Date: January 9, 2018
Cover Designer: Clarise Tan of CT Cover Creations
Hosted by: Buoni Amici Press, LLC.
A serial killer…
A past that haunts no matter how much the distance…
Which one will strike first?
Eighteen deaths over eight years has left Shane Peters itching to find his mark. The death that started it all ensured his obsession with the murderer who had turned his life into a living hell, leaving him to raise a newborn daughter on his own.
Starting over wasn’t the easiest thing, but Emberlyn Roth had managed by shear grit and the skin of her teeth. It’s too bad one can’t outrun their past.
A protector of the wronged, Shane is torn between his duty as a detective for the Jacksonville PD and a quest to find himself some peace. Red tape binds his capabilities and moonlighting as an investigator for Nightshade Securities has him feeling stretched thin. Late nights on the streets and his sense of duty keeps him from being the father he wants to be. Throw onto his already rickety house of cards, an attraction to the mysterious Emberlyn, the lead he’s got on the murderer he’s been hunting for nearly a decade, and threats his woman is receiving by an unsavory character from her past, and he’s seriously tempted to take Dalton Kipper’s offer to join his team in a permanent basis.
Rules have a place, but when you’re faced with losing the one that means most to you, lines can become blurred. With the fate of his family’s future hanging in the balance, he’s ready to risk it all.
Emberlyn
The man’s gaze was intense. “Is everything all right?”
“Why wouldn’t it be?” I asked him.
“You seemed a little tweaked this morning. I saw you on your front step.”
He made to approach me, which caused me to back up, right into the side of his desk, knocking a slew of papers and the file they’d been tucked into on the floor.
“Shit!”
Hurrying to my knees, I started rallying everything up in a pile when I felt Shane kneeling next to me.
“Let me. You shouldn’t–”
I took a closer look at the shots of random pieces and froze, studying them.
“What? What is it?” he asked. “Do those look familiar?”
“They just remind me of something I once wanted to try and never have,” I told him. “A photographic mosaic.”
His body went rigid. “A what?”
“A photographic mosaic…or photomosaic,” I explained. “It’s when you take different images of the same size and compile them together to make a larger picture. Kind of like a puzzle, because each image has to be in the right color scheme to make the larger image true.”
“You’re shitting me, right?” he asked.
“Well, no,” I said, then inquired further. “How many pieces do you have?”
He shrugged his shoulders. “I’d have to pull my files for the last eight years to know for sure. Do you know how to do these photo…”
“Mosaics?” I supplied. He nodded. “I’ve been wanting to try. Most people do these on computers these days, but I’ve seen them done by hand in a few galleries I’ve visited since I moved here.” I studied the photos closer, then moved to inspect the next one in the pile in my hands, and gasped, dropping everything I held onto the floor.
“Emberlyn,” I heard Shane say, but I was too busy processing the shock of what I saw. “Ember,” he tried again.
“Shane! Ember! Dessert’s ready!” Nora called out, but I couldn’t respond, closing my eyes to try and imagine something beautiful to replace the horror I’d just seen.
“Give us a minute, Mom. We’ll be right in.” I felt his hand grab my chin, gently tilting my head until we were face-to-face. “Look at me, Emberlyn. Look at me right now!”
That worked.
“Why wouldn’t it be?” I asked him.
“You seemed a little tweaked this morning. I saw you on your front step.”
He made to approach me, which caused me to back up, right into the side of his desk, knocking a slew of papers and the file they’d been tucked into on the floor.
“Shit!”
Hurrying to my knees, I started rallying everything up in a pile when I felt Shane kneeling next to me.
“Let me. You shouldn’t–”
I took a closer look at the shots of random pieces and froze, studying them.
“What? What is it?” he asked. “Do those look familiar?”
“They just remind me of something I once wanted to try and never have,” I told him. “A photographic mosaic.”
His body went rigid. “A what?”
“A photographic mosaic…or photomosaic,” I explained. “It’s when you take different images of the same size and compile them together to make a larger picture. Kind of like a puzzle, because each image has to be in the right color scheme to make the larger image true.”
“You’re shitting me, right?” he asked.
“Well, no,” I said, then inquired further. “How many pieces do you have?”
He shrugged his shoulders. “I’d have to pull my files for the last eight years to know for sure. Do you know how to do these photo…”
“Mosaics?” I supplied. He nodded. “I’ve been wanting to try. Most people do these on computers these days, but I’ve seen them done by hand in a few galleries I’ve visited since I moved here.” I studied the photos closer, then moved to inspect the next one in the pile in my hands, and gasped, dropping everything I held onto the floor.
“Emberlyn,” I heard Shane say, but I was too busy processing the shock of what I saw. “Ember,” he tried again.
“Shane! Ember! Dessert’s ready!” Nora called out, but I couldn’t respond, closing my eyes to try and imagine something beautiful to replace the horror I’d just seen.
“Give us a minute, Mom. We’ll be right in.” I felt his hand grab my chin, gently tilting my head until we were face-to-face. “Look at me, Emberlyn. Look at me right now!”
That worked.
Night Shift by Carey Decevito
Title: Night Shift (Night Shade 2)
Author: Carey Decevito
Genre: Contemporary Erotic Romance/ Romantic Suspense
Release Date: January 9, 2018
Cover Designer: Clarise Tan of CT Cover Creations
Hosted by: Buoni Amici Press, LLC.
A serial killer…
A past that haunts no matter how much the distance…
Which one will strike first?
Eighteen deaths over eight years has left Shane Peters itching to find his mark. The death that started it all ensured his obsession with the murderer who had turned his life into a living hell, leaving him to raise a newborn daughter on his own.
Starting over wasn’t the easiest thing, but Emberlyn Roth had managed by shear grit and the skin of her teeth. It’s too bad one can’t outrun their past.
A protector of the wronged, Shane is torn between his duty as a detective for the Jacksonville PD and a quest to find himself some peace. Red tape binds his capabilities and moonlighting as an investigator for Nightshade Securities has him feeling stretched thin. Late nights on the streets and his sense of duty keeps him from being the father he wants to be. Throw onto his already rickety house of cards, an attraction to the mysterious Emberlyn, the lead he’s got on the murderer he’s been hunting for nearly a decade, and threats his woman is receiving by an unsavory character from her past, and he’s seriously tempted to take Dalton Kipper’s offer to join his team in a permanent basis.
Rules have a place, but when you’re faced with losing the one that means most to you, lines can become blurred. With the fate of his family’s future hanging in the balance, he’s ready to risk it all.
Shane
I watched Emberlyn’s hips swing from side to side as she sauntered-stomped back to her house, thinking that not even Eva would have stood up to me like that. It brought a smile to my face; the first one of the day, as a matter of fact.
The reality that I would have to reiterate the house rules, and discipline my daughter, had me quickly filling with dread. Being a parent sucked ass when it came down to making sure your kid toed the line. I’d much have rather had a playdate at the park.
Turning to enter the house, I found Rosie curled up on Mom’s lap, sobbing into her chest. Mom gave me a sympathetic look, her eyes pleading me to go easy on her.
“Lana Rose, come here,” I demanded softly.
She shook her head, burrowing further into my mother. “Please don’t take her away. I don’t want to lose Ember. She’s my friend. She’s fun. Don’t make her go away, Daddy.”
My heart broke that she thought that of me. “Why would you think that, sweets?” Crouching down to her level, I lifted a hand to push back the strands of hair that had fallen from her ponytail.
“You’re the police,” she said simply, turning to look me in the eye with an incredulous expression. “You make the bad people go away. Ember wasn’t bad. I was. She doesn’t deserve it if you make her go away.”
I gave her a sad smile. “Baby girl, I’m not going to make Ember go away.” I paused to weigh my next words carefully. “But we are going to talk about the rules again, okay?” She nodded, settling her head on my mother’s shoulder. “What’s the first thing we do when we leave school?”
“Go straight home,” she said. “But, Daddy, I was just so–”
“I know you were excited, Rosie. I understand that, but I need you to understand that you have people who will worry that something bad happened, if you don’t do as you promised,” I explained.
She bit her bottom lip, stopping it from its quivering. “I promise I won’t do it again, Daddy.”
Leaning forward, kissing the side of her forehead, I whispered, “That’s good enough for me. Don’t scare me and your grams like that again, please.”
“I won’t.”
“Good.” I smiled, gifted with one in return from my girl. “Now go get cleaned up for dinner.”
“Okay.” She jumped off Mom’s lap and made her getaway. Pausing at the hallway entrance, she turned to me. “Daddy?”
“Hmm?”
She seemed to think about what to say, as if she wasn’t sure she should say it at all.
“What is it, Rosie? You can tell me anything.”
“You should maybe say you’re sorry to Ember.” With that, she was out of the room and out of earshot.
Mom spoke next. “She’s right. You were a little harsh on her, dear.”
I had been.
I guess I’ll have to rectify that and soon.
Once Rosie was in bed, and Mom was engrossed in one of her favorite programs, I snuck out of the house.
Brycen had sent me all the information he could gather on Emberlyn.
I’d spent the better part of the evening digesting what I’d read, wondering, what with her past, how she’d managed to stand up to me as she had. It didn’t take a genius to know that I was an imposing man, but with what she’d been through, I sure as hell wouldn’t have expected her to hold her own.
Suffice to say, I felt like a total asshole.
My knuckle met the wood of her front door, rapping on it three times.
I attempted it twice more before she opened.
“Listen, when someone doesn’t open after your first knock, and they’re home, it usually means that they don’t want to see you,” she snapped, crossing her arms over her chest. “Now, if you don’t mind, I’d like for you to leave.”
“I’m sorry,” I blurted. “I overreacted, said a bunch of shit I didn’t mean. You didn’t deserve that.”
“I didn’t deserve a lot of things.” She huffed. “But it doesn’t mean I didn’t end up with it either. Apology accepted. Now get lost.”
She went to slam the door in my face, but I stuck a booted foot out to block its progress.
“Come to dinner tomorrow night.”
That got me a wide-eyed look. “Are you out of your mind?”
“Let me make it up to you,” I told her. “I know one little girl who’d love to know she hasn’t lost a friend because her dad reached a new level of asshole.” She seemed to ponder my words, so I pushed further. “Please?”
The reality that I would have to reiterate the house rules, and discipline my daughter, had me quickly filling with dread. Being a parent sucked ass when it came down to making sure your kid toed the line. I’d much have rather had a playdate at the park.
Turning to enter the house, I found Rosie curled up on Mom’s lap, sobbing into her chest. Mom gave me a sympathetic look, her eyes pleading me to go easy on her.
“Lana Rose, come here,” I demanded softly.
She shook her head, burrowing further into my mother. “Please don’t take her away. I don’t want to lose Ember. She’s my friend. She’s fun. Don’t make her go away, Daddy.”
My heart broke that she thought that of me. “Why would you think that, sweets?” Crouching down to her level, I lifted a hand to push back the strands of hair that had fallen from her ponytail.
“You’re the police,” she said simply, turning to look me in the eye with an incredulous expression. “You make the bad people go away. Ember wasn’t bad. I was. She doesn’t deserve it if you make her go away.”
I gave her a sad smile. “Baby girl, I’m not going to make Ember go away.” I paused to weigh my next words carefully. “But we are going to talk about the rules again, okay?” She nodded, settling her head on my mother’s shoulder. “What’s the first thing we do when we leave school?”
“Go straight home,” she said. “But, Daddy, I was just so–”
“I know you were excited, Rosie. I understand that, but I need you to understand that you have people who will worry that something bad happened, if you don’t do as you promised,” I explained.
She bit her bottom lip, stopping it from its quivering. “I promise I won’t do it again, Daddy.”
Leaning forward, kissing the side of her forehead, I whispered, “That’s good enough for me. Don’t scare me and your grams like that again, please.”
“I won’t.”
“Good.” I smiled, gifted with one in return from my girl. “Now go get cleaned up for dinner.”
“Okay.” She jumped off Mom’s lap and made her getaway. Pausing at the hallway entrance, she turned to me. “Daddy?”
“Hmm?”
She seemed to think about what to say, as if she wasn’t sure she should say it at all.
“What is it, Rosie? You can tell me anything.”
“You should maybe say you’re sorry to Ember.” With that, she was out of the room and out of earshot.
Mom spoke next. “She’s right. You were a little harsh on her, dear.”
I had been.
I guess I’ll have to rectify that and soon.
Once Rosie was in bed, and Mom was engrossed in one of her favorite programs, I snuck out of the house.
Brycen had sent me all the information he could gather on Emberlyn.
I’d spent the better part of the evening digesting what I’d read, wondering, what with her past, how she’d managed to stand up to me as she had. It didn’t take a genius to know that I was an imposing man, but with what she’d been through, I sure as hell wouldn’t have expected her to hold her own.
Suffice to say, I felt like a total asshole.
My knuckle met the wood of her front door, rapping on it three times.
I attempted it twice more before she opened.
“Listen, when someone doesn’t open after your first knock, and they’re home, it usually means that they don’t want to see you,” she snapped, crossing her arms over her chest. “Now, if you don’t mind, I’d like for you to leave.”
“I’m sorry,” I blurted. “I overreacted, said a bunch of shit I didn’t mean. You didn’t deserve that.”
“I didn’t deserve a lot of things.” She huffed. “But it doesn’t mean I didn’t end up with it either. Apology accepted. Now get lost.”
She went to slam the door in my face, but I stuck a booted foot out to block its progress.
“Come to dinner tomorrow night.”
That got me a wide-eyed look. “Are you out of your mind?”
“Let me make it up to you,” I told her. “I know one little girl who’d love to know she hasn’t lost a friend because her dad reached a new level of asshole.” She seemed to ponder my words, so I pushed further. “Please?”
“On one condition,” she said.
“Uh...” I didn’t know what to say to that.
“Rosie gets to come over tomorrow. I promised her we’d make her lip gloss today, but I never went to pick up some of the ingredients I needed for it, so I said we’d get together tomorrow,” she explained.
“That’s it?”
“That’s it.”
“I have no problem with that.” Her lips stayed in a firm line at my words, but her eyes shined with pure joy. Fuck, I liked that look on her. Probably more than I should.
Looking down at my foot, I clued in that she was silently asking me to pull it back.
“What time’s dinner?” she asked, the defensiveness gone from her voice.
“Is six okay, or am I taking you and Rosie away from your project?” I smirked.
She smiled. “No, six should be fine.”
“See you then,” I replied.
“Goodnight, Shane.” Without waiting for my response, she shut me out, the sound of a lock engaging lending to our conversation’s finality.
Sass.
The woman had plenty.
And I was a fan.
“Goodnight,” I said to her door, chuckling as I turned to head back home.
“Uh...” I didn’t know what to say to that.
“Rosie gets to come over tomorrow. I promised her we’d make her lip gloss today, but I never went to pick up some of the ingredients I needed for it, so I said we’d get together tomorrow,” she explained.
“That’s it?”
“That’s it.”
“I have no problem with that.” Her lips stayed in a firm line at my words, but her eyes shined with pure joy. Fuck, I liked that look on her. Probably more than I should.
Looking down at my foot, I clued in that she was silently asking me to pull it back.
“What time’s dinner?” she asked, the defensiveness gone from her voice.
“Is six okay, or am I taking you and Rosie away from your project?” I smirked.
She smiled. “No, six should be fine.”
“See you then,” I replied.
“Goodnight, Shane.” Without waiting for my response, she shut me out, the sound of a lock engaging lending to our conversation’s finality.
Sass.
The woman had plenty.
And I was a fan.
“Goodnight,” I said to her door, chuckling as I turned to head back home.
\
Born and raised in small town Northern Ontario, Canada, Carey Decevito has always had a penchant for reading and writing.
More than a decade later, with weeks of sleepless nights, where exhaustion settled into her everyday existence, she finally gave in and put pen to paper (more like fingers to keyboard!) She submitted to the dreams that plagued her. And the rest, as they say, is history!
A member of the RWA, Carey enjoys spending time with family and friends, the outdoors, travelling, and playing tourist in Canada's National Capital region. When life gets crazy, this contemporary erotic romance author seeks respite through her writing and reading. If all else fails, she knows there’s never a dull moment with her two daughters, her goofy husband, and cat who she swears is out to get her.
She is the author of both The Broken Men Chronicles and Nightshade series.
Night Shift by Carey Decevito
Title: Night Shift (Night Shade 2)
Author: Carey Decevito
Genre: Contemporary Erotic Romance/ Romantic Suspense
Release Date: January 9, 2018
Cover Designer: Clarise Tan of CT Cover Creations
Hosted by: Buoni Amici Press, LLC.
A serial killer…
A past that haunts no matter how much the distance…
Which one will strike first?
Eighteen deaths over eight years has left Shane Peters itching to find his mark. The death that started it all ensured his obsession with the murderer who had turned his life into a living hell, leaving him to raise a newborn daughter on his own.
Starting over wasn’t the easiest thing, but Emberlyn Roth had managed by shear grit and the skin of her teeth. It’s too bad one can’t outrun their past.
A protector of the wronged, Shane is torn between his duty as a detective for the Jacksonville PD and a quest to find himself some peace. Red tape binds his capabilities and moonlighting as an investigator for Nightshade Securities has him feeling stretched thin. Late nights on the streets and his sense of duty keeps him from being the father he wants to be. Throw onto his already rickety house of cards, an attraction to the mysterious Emberlyn, the lead he’s got on the murderer he’s been hunting for nearly a decade, and threats his woman is receiving by an unsavory character from her past, and he’s seriously tempted to take Dalton Kipper’s offer to join his team in a permanent basis.
Rules have a place, but when you’re faced with losing the one that means most to you, lines can become blurred. With the fate of his family’s future hanging in the balance, he’s ready to risk it all.
Prologue
“What are you doing here?” The tension around me palpable, she hurried aside to let me enter before closing the door behind us.
My blood boiled.
My skin crawled that she’d let him do that to her.
I had to get rid of it.
The taint.
Purify her.
“What have you done? You’re mine, Evie. I told you, when I came back, you’d be mine and now look at yourself.” Disgust was as clear in my voice as it was in my expression.
“Wh-whatever it is…we can talk this out,” she stuttered, her feet inching her backward as I followed her movements.
Reaching to the small of my back, my fingers wrapped around the grip as I pulled it from its sheath. The eight-inch blade caught the glint of the afternoon sun, mesmerizing me, causing me to admire the play of light against it before I focused on the woman before me.
Her eyes shone with terror. “You don’t…” She shook her head left to right, swallowing hard, stumbling against the side table next to the sofa. “You don’t have to do this.” She righted herself. “We can still be together. Now that…now that you’re back–”
I shot her an incredulous look. Did she think me a fool? “You’ve gone and done the unthinkable. You had his child!” I hollered, my knuckles gripping the knife tightly. “This is the only way…the only way to get rid of the stain.”
Her steps froze momentarily. “Stain?”
“It’s what I should have done a while ago,” I spat, cornering her as her steps were halted by the wall at her back. “What you took from me…what should have been mine,” I raged, “is what I’ll take from you.”
One moment my eyes darted toward the hallway where I knew the devil lay in slumber, and the next, Eva Peters was making a mad rush toward the door that separated me from saving us all.
“No!” she panted. “You’re crazy!”
If she only knew. “Move, Evie,” I growled, “it’s the only way.”
“She’s not here. Please!” Tears streamed down her face, her body shaking with fear.
Using the tip of the blade, I ran it over her soaked cheek, the metal sharp enough to catch on her ivory skin, causing a streak of blood to suddenly materialize.
I felt lighter instantly.
Powerful. In control. A feeling I hadn’t had in quite some time.
Manning my knife, I proceeded to run the tip of it down to her bottom lip, nicking it just enough for another bubble of her essence to form.
“Mmm…” I groaned, leaning forward to press my front against hers, taking the time to lick her damaged lip, then whispered my new realization while rubbing my impossibly hard cock against her stomach. “I was wrong. This…” I ran my finger through the blood on her cheek, watching its movement, “is what I need, Evie.”
The sadness was overwhelming as I stared at the beauty laying limp and lifeless beneath me.
The rage I’d felt had all but dissipated with each slice of my blade through her flesh. Like a hot knife through butter, each time blood began to pour out, a weight lifted within me.
What once held pleading in her eyes, was now long gone.
She was nothing but a piece of art, trussed up by her silk scarves, a vessel conveying my message.
I’d be back…
My blood boiled.
My skin crawled that she’d let him do that to her.
I had to get rid of it.
The taint.
Purify her.
“What have you done? You’re mine, Evie. I told you, when I came back, you’d be mine and now look at yourself.” Disgust was as clear in my voice as it was in my expression.
“Wh-whatever it is…we can talk this out,” she stuttered, her feet inching her backward as I followed her movements.
Reaching to the small of my back, my fingers wrapped around the grip as I pulled it from its sheath. The eight-inch blade caught the glint of the afternoon sun, mesmerizing me, causing me to admire the play of light against it before I focused on the woman before me.
Her eyes shone with terror. “You don’t…” She shook her head left to right, swallowing hard, stumbling against the side table next to the sofa. “You don’t have to do this.” She righted herself. “We can still be together. Now that…now that you’re back–”
I shot her an incredulous look. Did she think me a fool? “You’ve gone and done the unthinkable. You had his child!” I hollered, my knuckles gripping the knife tightly. “This is the only way…the only way to get rid of the stain.”
Her steps froze momentarily. “Stain?”
“It’s what I should have done a while ago,” I spat, cornering her as her steps were halted by the wall at her back. “What you took from me…what should have been mine,” I raged, “is what I’ll take from you.”
One moment my eyes darted toward the hallway where I knew the devil lay in slumber, and the next, Eva Peters was making a mad rush toward the door that separated me from saving us all.
“No!” she panted. “You’re crazy!”
If she only knew. “Move, Evie,” I growled, “it’s the only way.”
“She’s not here. Please!” Tears streamed down her face, her body shaking with fear.
Using the tip of the blade, I ran it over her soaked cheek, the metal sharp enough to catch on her ivory skin, causing a streak of blood to suddenly materialize.
I felt lighter instantly.
Powerful. In control. A feeling I hadn’t had in quite some time.
Manning my knife, I proceeded to run the tip of it down to her bottom lip, nicking it just enough for another bubble of her essence to form.
“Mmm…” I groaned, leaning forward to press my front against hers, taking the time to lick her damaged lip, then whispered my new realization while rubbing my impossibly hard cock against her stomach. “I was wrong. This…” I ran my finger through the blood on her cheek, watching its movement, “is what I need, Evie.”
The sadness was overwhelming as I stared at the beauty laying limp and lifeless beneath me.
The rage I’d felt had all but dissipated with each slice of my blade through her flesh. Like a hot knife through butter, each time blood began to pour out, a weight lifted within me.
What once held pleading in her eyes, was now long gone.
She was nothing but a piece of art, trussed up by her silk scarves, a vessel conveying my message.
I’d be back…
Chapter 1
Shane
Eight Years Later
The moment I walked over the threshold, I knew a clusterfuck of epic proportion awaited me.
Blood was everywhere. Spatter by the front door, smears over the walls, and droplets leading to where I knew the victim would ultimately be laying in a pool of her life’s essence.
Forensics was going to have a field day with this one.
Just like with the other fifteen.
Donning the protective gear the lead officer had ordered me to change into before entering the scene, I made my way toward the back of the house.
Carefully avoiding one evidence marker after another, I entered the master bedroom. The grizzly sight of Victoria Spark’s mutilated body, lying face up on the bed, greeted me. The standard ligatures on her wrists and ankles proved that she’d been restrained and alive through most of her torture; the killer leaving her to die in excruciating pain from her wounds and ultimately, blood loss.
The scent of copper on the air thickened as I made my final approach, slipping my hands into a pair of plastic gloves. I was looking for something I knew was meant for me.
Setting my evidence kit down beside the bed, I bent toward the body in search of my next clue.
The sickening crack of the victim’s jaw set my stomach to roiling as I pulled her mouth open, locating the three pieces I had come to expect after so many years of chasing this perp. Letting go of the victim, I grasped my digital camera and photographed my findings. Setting the camera down, I whipped out the small evidence bag from my kit and opened it, manning my tweezers.
Fishing the objects out one by one, I dropped them in the bag, then photographed them again. Fragments of a photograph were what this sicko leaves. Camera in hand, I shot a few frames of the room, as well as the rest of the premises. The team would have their own photos, but I liked being thorough with my investigations, thus preferred gathering my own shots, comparing them with the others’.
Closing up my kit, I stood to take my leave.
Fucking sadistic bastard and his games.
It pissed me off that he was always one step ahead of me.
Thinking on those tiny pieces—the unknown subject, or unsub’s calling card—I was confused more than ever as to why he was leaving them at every scene. The letter I’d received at the precinct, a week after the first murder, had eluded that they were all part of some demented countdown…a puzzle of sorts. One thing was clear however, the perp was after me, and after sixteen murders, I still wasn’t any closer to finding this guy.
In my career as a detective, I’ve come across a lot of questionable characters. I’ve done my fair share of arresting the dregs of society and making enemies along the way. You can’t be a cop without that happening.
“I take it that Rosie is in for another disappointing birthday dinner?” Will asked, coming to a stop at my side as I exited the victim’s home.
For the last seven years, it had been the same fucking story. That in itself was enough to confirm that the unsub was gunning for me. That, and the fact that he’d started this spree of his claiming none other than my wife as his first victim.
My only problem was, my list of suspects had next to nothing. This perp was meticulously careful. Treating his kills like artwork: from the placement of limbs, to the blood spatter surrounding the victims…even those fucking pieces.
“I hate going back on my promise,” I growled. “She’s going to be pissed.”
“I know it’s your case, Shane, but I’m your partner,” Will said. “Take a few hours, go to her, then come back if you have to.”
I nodded. “I have what I need right now. You sure you can handle everything without me?”
He patted me on the back as I straightened from the body and backed away. “I’ll call if something comes up.”
Thanking him, I handed him my evidence bag, then made to leave the scene, my camera and evidence kit in tow.
Blood was everywhere. Spatter by the front door, smears over the walls, and droplets leading to where I knew the victim would ultimately be laying in a pool of her life’s essence.
Forensics was going to have a field day with this one.
Just like with the other fifteen.
Donning the protective gear the lead officer had ordered me to change into before entering the scene, I made my way toward the back of the house.
Carefully avoiding one evidence marker after another, I entered the master bedroom. The grizzly sight of Victoria Spark’s mutilated body, lying face up on the bed, greeted me. The standard ligatures on her wrists and ankles proved that she’d been restrained and alive through most of her torture; the killer leaving her to die in excruciating pain from her wounds and ultimately, blood loss.
The scent of copper on the air thickened as I made my final approach, slipping my hands into a pair of plastic gloves. I was looking for something I knew was meant for me.
Setting my evidence kit down beside the bed, I bent toward the body in search of my next clue.
The sickening crack of the victim’s jaw set my stomach to roiling as I pulled her mouth open, locating the three pieces I had come to expect after so many years of chasing this perp. Letting go of the victim, I grasped my digital camera and photographed my findings. Setting the camera down, I whipped out the small evidence bag from my kit and opened it, manning my tweezers.
Fishing the objects out one by one, I dropped them in the bag, then photographed them again. Fragments of a photograph were what this sicko leaves. Camera in hand, I shot a few frames of the room, as well as the rest of the premises. The team would have their own photos, but I liked being thorough with my investigations, thus preferred gathering my own shots, comparing them with the others’.
Closing up my kit, I stood to take my leave.
Fucking sadistic bastard and his games.
It pissed me off that he was always one step ahead of me.
Thinking on those tiny pieces—the unknown subject, or unsub’s calling card—I was confused more than ever as to why he was leaving them at every scene. The letter I’d received at the precinct, a week after the first murder, had eluded that they were all part of some demented countdown…a puzzle of sorts. One thing was clear however, the perp was after me, and after sixteen murders, I still wasn’t any closer to finding this guy.
In my career as a detective, I’ve come across a lot of questionable characters. I’ve done my fair share of arresting the dregs of society and making enemies along the way. You can’t be a cop without that happening.
“I take it that Rosie is in for another disappointing birthday dinner?” Will asked, coming to a stop at my side as I exited the victim’s home.
For the last seven years, it had been the same fucking story. That in itself was enough to confirm that the unsub was gunning for me. That, and the fact that he’d started this spree of his claiming none other than my wife as his first victim.
My only problem was, my list of suspects had next to nothing. This perp was meticulously careful. Treating his kills like artwork: from the placement of limbs, to the blood spatter surrounding the victims…even those fucking pieces.
“I hate going back on my promise,” I growled. “She’s going to be pissed.”
“I know it’s your case, Shane, but I’m your partner,” Will said. “Take a few hours, go to her, then come back if you have to.”
I nodded. “I have what I need right now. You sure you can handle everything without me?”
He patted me on the back as I straightened from the body and backed away. “I’ll call if something comes up.”
Thanking him, I handed him my evidence bag, then made to leave the scene, my camera and evidence kit in tow.
Caught up in my own memories, I drove home on autopilot, scenes from eight years ago playing in my head.
The same black hair. The same look of terror in her open eyes.
Eva had been bound too.
And cut up.
Blood. God! There’d been so much blood everywhere.
I’d been the one to find her. I hated to think what would have been had my Rosie been there that day.
“Daddy!” was squealed, knocking me out of my grizzly thoughts.
Opening the car door and letting myself out, I caught her as she launched herself into my arms.
My princess.
The light of my life.
The same black hair. The same look of terror in her open eyes.
Eva had been bound too.
And cut up.
Blood. God! There’d been so much blood everywhere.
I’d been the one to find her. I hated to think what would have been had my Rosie been there that day.
“Daddy!” was squealed, knocking me out of my grizzly thoughts.
Opening the car door and letting myself out, I caught her as she launched herself into my arms.
My princess.
The light of my life.
Born and raised in small town Northern Ontario, Canada, Carey Decevito has always had a penchant for reading and writing.
More than a decade later, with weeks of sleepless nights, where exhaustion settled into her everyday existence, she finally gave in and put pen to paper (more like fingers to keyboard!) She submitted to the dreams that plagued her. And the rest, as they say, is history!
A member of the RWA, Carey enjoys spending time with family and friends, the outdoors, travelling, and playing tourist in Canada's National Capital region. When life gets crazy, this contemporary erotic romance author seeks respite through her writing and reading. If all else fails, she knows there’s never a dull moment with her two daughters, her goofy husband, and cat who she swears is out to get her.
She is the author of both The Broken Men Chronicles and Nightshade series.
Subscribe to:
Posts
(
Atom
)