Sin on the Strip (23 page)

“He's struck again.”

Christian heard a crack, felt a sharp pain in his palm. He looked down at the sound of glass striking concrete. In his hands the remains of his wine glass.

While he'd been thinking with his dick, the bastard had killed again.

“C
an't you drive faster? You should've let me drive.” Maggie scowled at Christian and he may have been intimidated, except pissed off women were his specialty.

Thankful for the seatbelt harnessing her into the bucket seat, he was sure she'd have rocked herself into a frenzy otherwise. “We want to get there in one piece.”

“You drive like an old man,” she complained, ignoring his reasoning. “I'll pay for the speeding ticket,” she added as a bribe.

Looking at the speedometer, he didn't consider eighty an old man's speed. Obliging her, he accelerated to ninety.

Inside the hospital Cooper waited. Hands in his gray, rumpled suit's pockets, he stared at the vinyl floor, stained from a busy night in the emergency room.

“Any change?” Maggie called out from down the hall. “Where is she?”

“Surgery. Has been for the last two hours. Internal bleeding.”

Maggie drew back, ran a hand through hair and spun in an impatient circle, like a dog chasing her tail. “Damn, damn, damn. What was she doing alone?”

“She's alive. She's like you, a survivor.” Cooper drew her into his beefy arms, and whispered into her ear. Whatever he said seemed to work. Maggie closed her eyes and the corners of her lips twitched in a faint smile.

An ugly stab of jealousy sucker-punched Christian. No point in denying it. Although stupid to be jealous, he couldn't help it. Damn it, he wanted to be the one to make everything better. Considering he told Ryan his next assignment better not have a pulse, it was odd. Conceding this round to Cooper, Christian promised himself the next and final bout would be his.

Seeing the strained, unanswered question on Maggie's face, Christian spared her the effort it was taking for her to ask. Standing behind her, he took her shoulders and held Maggie against his chest, ready to wrap his arms around her if that's what she needed.

“Was she raped?” he asked, then felt corded muscles ripple beneath his hands as she tensed.

“No,” Cooper said.

Maggie shuddered with the release of her breath. She buried her face in her hands, “Thank God,” she muttered. “What happened?”

“We're not completely sure. An elderly couple found her in an alley off Jarvis St.” He pulled out his notepad, flipped a few pages and read, “Four blocks south of Windsor. She'd been run over. At first they thought it had been a hit and run, that somehow she'd been struck so hard her body ended up in the alley.”

“What makes you think it was the killer?” Christian asked.

Cooper hesitated, staring at Maggie, then at Christian, and back at Maggie. If reluctant to say any more in front of her, he opted for full disclosure. “She was slashed behind her neck. Hard to miss. It was sloppy, and deeper than the rest. If luck is on our side,” Cooper said, “he'll think he killed her.”

Maggie and Christian exchanged confused expressions.

“She was unconscious when they found her, barely breathing. Maybe he left her for dead.”

“This attack doesn't fit the pattern,” Christian said. “He's never killed them on the streets, or ran them over. And always raped them. Maybe she jumped out of his car and was hit by oncoming traffic. Bad timing on her part?”

Cooper rubbed at the stubble on his chin. “She was hit in front of the alley and the tire marks are erratic, so we might have gone with that theory, had her neck not been mutilated. It makes no sense.”

“What about the marks on her neck?” Maggie asked.

“All the coroner's reports concur, always post-mortem. This doesn't fit either. I don't think he intended Rhonda to be his next victim.
She
doesn't fit. She's what, thirty, thirty-two?

“Twenty-eight,” Maggie corrected.

“Twenty-eight?” Christian repeated. She looked older. “Okay, still his oldest victim yet.”

“Survivor,” she corrected sharply, and took a seat in the waiting room.

“Something's not right,” Christian said. He went to sit with Maggie, but Cooper touched his arm, holding him back.

“I hear you and if not for the slashes on her neck . . . listen,” he snuck a peek at Maggie, making sure she was distracted with her thoughts. “You saw Desilva. You never told me how it went.”

“The guy's a number-one sleazeball.”

“So tell me something I don't know.”

“Did you know he has a connection to JJ Sorrentino?”

From the man's wide-eyed expression, he didn't. “What kind of connection?”

“I'm going to say diamonds. I busted Sorrentino about ten years ago for abduction and prostitution. The agency had also hoped to end his diamond smuggling. We knew he had them, but when the bust went down the diamonds had vanished.

“We found stones with Desilva,” said Cooper. “You think they belonged to Sorrentino? Desilva was working for the mob? There's no evidence to prove that. What's any of that got to do with Maggie?”

“Maybe nothing, but Sorrentino got out of jail last March.”

“Okay, I get it. Samantha Wiseman died in March, but you're grasping at seven degrees of separation here. Sorrentino would have and could have ordered a hit from jail.” Cooper glanced over at Maggie, who was in the middle of abusing a magazine, the sound of each page she slapped over, filling the waiting room. “If Maggie fucking with Desilva screwed him up, then why wait five years to take revenge?”

“I haven't figured that out yet.”

Maybe he did have nothing. If Cooper hadn't brought it up, Christian wouldn't have said anything. Quite frankly, the killer targeting Maggie for her connection to her father made more sense. Still, he wasn't ready to rule anything out.

An hour later, Maggie paced the small waiting area like a caged cat.

“What's taking them so long?”

“Patience, Maggie,” Christian said just as a doctor emerged, and from the glare she shot his way, most likely saving Christian from a bloody nose.

From the bags under his eyes and strained lines on his face, it wasn't hard to figure out this guy was at the end of a long shift.

“Lieutenant,” he sighed, “that's one lucky woman.” He eyed Christian and Maggie speculatively, but after a nod from Cooper, continued his report. “Three cracked ribs, a punctured lung and ruptured spleen. We managed to save her kidney, but it was touch and go. She'll be out for a while. I'll let you know when she wakes up.”

“But she'll wake up, right?” Maggie stared at the doctor. “Right?” she repeated when he said nothing.

“Her vitals are good, and she's healthy. Those are both positives. If you'll excuse me I have a report to write.” He smiled encouragingly and left.

“Maggie?” Christian tucked a stray hair behind her ear, concerned by her sudden silence.

“She was on her way to see me.”

“You don't know that.” For all they knew the killer had dumped her there.

“Jarvis is two blocks away. Shannon must have told her where I was.”

“Why would Shannon do that?”
Why put Maggie at risk?

“Rhonda's like the fifth musketeer. She's my only dancer who isn't intimidated by my friends. She and Shannon even went to Disney one year. They all trust Rhonda, as do I. We'll need to call Shannon. How many?” she asked no one in particular. “How many women are dead because of their association with me?”

“We've been over this. It's not your fault.”

“Maggie, Beck is right. You're not responsible for this psycho's behavior.”

“Women are dying. I got into this to save them, not make them targets.”

Christian didn't like where she was going with this. She was tired and needed sleep. “Let me take you back to Shannon's. I'll bring you back in the morning, when Rhonda wakes up.”

Maggie opened her mouth for what was sure to be an argument. The lieutenant interjected.

“Maggie, she'll want to see you and you know what a bloodhound she is. You'll only upset her if she thinks you're all in knots. Go home, get some rest. For her sake, and yours.”

In the car, Maggie put in a call to Shannon, whose answer surprised her. Rhonda had wanted to tell her something about Beck. Apparently “she'd figured it out” and was too excited to see the expression on Maggie's face to wait. Since it was the press they were trying to avoid, Shannon hadn't seen the harm in letting Rhonda know they'd switched places, and Maggie had to assure her Rhonda would have figured it out eventually.

Now, standing by the elevator, she regarded the all-too-handsome man waiting with her. All her unanswered questions didn't stop the urge to wrap her arms around him. More than ever, she needed him. That terrified her on all kinds of levels. Because when this was over, and she had to believe it would be, had to believe he'd keep his promise and find this monster, then where would she be? Where would Beck be? How much more screwed up would her life be?

“So, what had Rhonda figured out?”

“Honestly, I don't know.” He seemed just as puzzled.

“She once said you looked familiar. Maybe she remembered you, so why couldn't it wait until morning? You heard Shannon. Rhonda was like the cat that ate the canary.”

The elevator stopped and he took the keys from her hand. Outside, he paused enough to make Maggie reconsider believing him. “Something wrong?” she asked.

“No . . . nothing,” he said, turning the key and opening the door.

Her old street sense kicked in. He was lying. And nervous. Rhonda wouldn't have kept Shannon in the dark if she thought the information really important. So what had she remembered that made Beck uneasy? She didn't think anything could turn his cart over.

He led the way into the apartment. Maggie didn't miss the way he listened, his eyes scanning the room for an intruder. “Stay here for a minute, okay?”

She grabbed his arm, her heart skipping a beat. “Beck?” Had he seen something she hadn't?

He kissed her cheek. “Just making sure. Now stay put.”

Watching him go through the apartment, she ignored the cold shiver running down her back. Was she going to be next?
Stop it.
Shannon had chosen this place because of the security. No one could get in here. It was, however, the longest few minutes of her life.

He returned with an encouraging smile and a gentle kiss to her forehead. “Sorry. Did I scare you?”

No, she did that all on her own, and it was time she put on her big girl panties. “I appreciate you being cautious.” She returned his smile.

“I'm not going to let anything happen to you,” he said and wrapped his strong arms around her.

Yes, his arms were strong, his embrace secure, but it was past time for answers. If she'd figured out ICU correctly, then he wasn't going to be around forever. Whatever feelings she may have for him and regardless of the chemistry between them, he was here to do a job, one that wouldn't allow him to stick around. So better to know now than after she fell in love with him. If it wasn't already too late.

She reminded herself that knowledge is power. “How does Rhonda know you?”

Beck shrugged. “Rhonda and I don't exactly travel in the same circles.”

“True, she dances for men. You, what, kill them?”

“Maggie—”

“We need to finish our conversation. No more lies.”

“I
haven't
lied to you,” he said.

“Half-truths then. Let's start at the beginning,” she offered, feeling more like her old self. “You okay with that?”

He had little choice. He knew it. She knew it. He nodded.

“You were hired by Mr. Wiseman to find his daughter.”

Another nod.

“Then her killer,” Maggie added, walking into the living area.

“Maggie, the clients I work for pay me to keep my mouth shut. So even if I wanted to tell you the particulars, I couldn't.”

“Do you trust me?” The question was unfair. This was after all his job. But she was tired. Physically and mentally tired.

He sighed. “Then her killer.”

He trusted her. What a difference from when they'd first met. “And . . .” She made an impatient gesture with her hand.

He drew his lower lip into his mouth, biting the corner.

Giving him time, she turned on the floor lamp by the couch, illuminating the room in muted light. “Are you stalling because it's illegal or because you're worried about my good opinion of you?”

“Do you have a good opinion of me?” he asked, sounding earnest.

“That's a dumb question. Do you think I would sleep with someone I didn't have a high opinion of?”