Carolina Rain (14 page)

“Did I tell you how much I love
naked Irish women?” Manny asked,
releasing
a smile
she could feel, if not see.

“Ya, a couple of times
.
T
hat’s why I didn’t stop
what I was doing
when you asked me not to,” she said, returning the smile. “And I better be the only Irish woman ya see naked.”

“Good point. I think more than one of you would kill me.”

“I don’t know about the other ones
,
but I’d kill ya dead. And ya didn’t answer the question, man, now did ya?”

His hand crawled up her hip and rested on her breast.
She shuddered and moved closer to him.
His touch would never get old
. . .
never.

“Remember when I came to Ireland and we stayed up until sunrise talking about who we are and how we had to be true to
ourselves, and to each other
? That changing people
you love
only worked in movies and novels?”

She stayed silent
. H
ow could she forget that? She’d fallen deeper with every word that
had flowed
from his incredi
ble mouth. Her grown-up Boy Scou
t was the real deal.

“Josh and the others need my help and, not to mention, I need to get back in the saddle. I had a lot of
hours
to think over the last few weeks and it brought home the point, more than ever, that I can make a difference
out there
.”

“That’s true, ya can, but ya can make it for Jen and me by staying home a few more weeks.”

Manny
patted her on her backside and
moved away from her. She turned on her side and watched him sit on the edge of the
bed
as he ran
his hand through his hair.

“I can see your crack from here,” she said.

He snorted and
loosened the
laugh
that made her tingle
.

“It
’s
not as nice as yours though,” he said.

“Don’t forget that
.
”

Moving to her knees
,
she wrapped her arms around his neck
, pressing her breasts against his back
, kissing
his neck.

“So what’s really bothering you is getting back in the saddle, as you put it, right?”

“It is. Now that Garity’s out of the picture
,
I’m not
apprehensive
about what he might have done concerning Jen and you. But I’m a little worried about how I’ll feel getting involved in another case. Maybe I won’t like it. Maybe I’ll miss things that someone else might catch. Maybe you and Jen are all I’ll think about.”

Rolling her eyes, she got up and sat on his lap.

“Ya, and maybe you’re full of shit. You were born to
understand
these people, to get into their heads, to feel what they feel, see what they see
. And
for crying out loud, you live for it. Jen and I
am
just a notch above that life
. . .
and we both get it. We want you to do that thing ya do, to quote a quote. The world needs the Guardian of the Universe. I just feel cheated out of the last seven weeks or so, and that makes me pissy.”

“Fair enough. But I think I can make it up to you,
just don’t get pissed at me like you were at the security folks in the hospital
,
” answered Manny.

She hit him on the arm.
“
The dumb shits still hav
en’t
heard the last of me about that one, and you’re t
o
o
hot
to get me to that stat
e
. . .
and s
even weeks in a few hours? You’re good, but not that good.”

He captured her eyes with his
,
and she thought she might melt. In fact, she may have, just a little.

“I love you Chloe. I’ll always be grateful that you were there when I needed you the most.”

She kissed him because she couldn’
t talk. If anyone needed a life
saver it was her, and he was far
more than the life
guard.

They fell back on the bed together, a greedy tangle of arms and legs and other body parts.
She felt so alive. Strong.
Safe in his arms. And sure that her life could not be better.

An hour later
,
she and Manny stood in the kitchen of the home that had
belonged to
Louise and
him
—
the place they
’d
raised Jenny
—
drinking coffee
and tea,
talking, when, for the first time,
Chloe
felt a little like an outsider. Neither her step-daughter nor her husband had ever made her feel that way
only
,
here
was that feeling,
just the same. She was about to confess her feelings to Manny when the doorbell rang and Sampson, the larger than life black Lab that seemed to run
the
house, barked so loudly that she jumped.

Manny looked at her
. “Are you expecting company?
” he asked.

“No. And don’t play dumb. You’re not the only profiler in this house.”

The door swung open and Alex and Sophie walked into the hardwood foyer. She saw Manny smile and move to greet them, then
he
stop
ped short as he read their faces.

“Is everything all right?”
he asked
.

Alex shook his head. “No. They found a third body in North Carolina
.
A
pparently the killer struck twice in the same night.”

“Two in one night?” Manny
frowned,
turned to Chloe
,
then back to Sophie and Alex.

Chloe
knew that look
. H
e
r husband
was already working.

“Damn
.
I don’t think I’ve seen that before with this kind of unsub,” said Manny quietly.

He
glanced
to Chloe
again
and she felt her heart sink, for more than one reason. He wasn’t just working; he was in full save-the-universe mode. That meant time away and worse, dangerous situations like the one
or two
that almost
put
him in the morgue. She looked to the floor and said nothing.

“Yeah? Well, that ain’t all,” said Sophie, pulling a DVD out of her pocket. “The locals got this yesterday. They sent a copy to Josh. Apparently we have an unsub with a
special
name.
One she gave herself.
”

Chloe looked up
with quick understanding
. Serial killers that gave themselves names were from a
particular
corner of
Crazy Land
. “What does that mean?”

“It seems that Aphrodite is alive and not really a myth,” said Sophie.

“Aphrodite? Really?
The
killer
is
female and she calls herself that?” asked Manny.

“She does,” said Alex. “We only saw the video once
. S
he’s a knockout, and very bright, but we need to look at it more closely when we get to Wilmington
. W
ith all of us in the room.”

Manny stared at the DVD while running his hand through his hair.
“
This is extremely unusual. Kind of the weirdest of the weird.
I need to see the video, but it seems like s
he’s stepping into a fantasy and confusing it with reality. That’s rare but
,
more than that,
her thought process makes her
extra dangerous.”

“Why?” asked Sophie.

Manny continued.
“Two
murders
in a short span like that
suggests
she’s also
highly
impulsive and
probably
addicted to the feelings
or actions
that
a specific
part of this
killing
method
brings her.
If I’m right, s
he is going to need what that power brings her, often.
And
,
if she videoed herself, maybe she
. .
.”

“.
. .
video
taped
the murders,” finished Sophie. “Shit. I need
a drink
.”

Quiet
tension
flowered.
Chloe hated how that felt and she wasn’t even working the case, but maybe what she’d told Manny
about being born to profile
was a little prophetic for her as well
. . .
.maybe this profiling world was a part of her
too
.

She let out a breath and then disappeared into the bedroom, r
eturning with Manny’s black pre
-
packed travel bag
, dropping it
at his feet.

“You’ll be needin’ that, I suspect,” she said quietly.

Alex
looked at
Chloe
,
and then Manny, then
Chloe
again.
He
grabbed
Sophie
’s arm.
“We’ll be in the truck.”

As Sophie
and Alex
reached the door,
Sophie broke away from
Alex and
hurried to Chloe
, throwing
her arms around her. “
Don’t worry.
I ain’t lettin’ nothing happen to him, got it?”

“Thanks,”
she said softly, fighting tears, hoping that was true.

Manny was a lucky man to have friends like
these
. Not everyone does.

A moment later, Alex and Sophie were out the door.

“Chloe. I
–
”

She put her finger on his lips and hugged him fiercely. “Just watch your ass, Big Boy,” she whispered.

He sighed. “I’ll call Jen and I’ll be back in a few days
, I hope
.”

Nodding, she kissed him and
walked
into the other room. A few minutes later
,
the door closed
,
and she felt the tears
caress
her eyes. She
immediately
felt alone, more than alone
. She felt
almost
abandoned.
She’d just gotten
him
back and he was gone again.

So this is what cop’s wives
live with
.

But that wasn’t all. She couldn’t shake the feeling that something awful was just over the horizon.

Life-changing awful.

CHAPTER-19

“
C
an you answer the question? Do you feel any remorse for
the
actions that caused you to be placed here?” asked Emma Holton.

Glancing
up at her round face,
Max
Tucker
nodded his he
ad in the way repentant, broken
people do. The way that revealed how he understood what he’d done had been wrong. That his idea of what the world
is
, or could be, was mistaken because it created pain and danger for others.
He understood
that
his mentor
had le
d him down a path that he saw as a
method
to
get
all he needed, and wanted. That his motivation was far from the norm. He
’d
wanted money
. Respect. Appreciation. Status. B
ut none of it was important when it came to exposing people to deadly harm. People were basically good and he’d had a responsibility to take care of them
.
He’d failed to do that. Yes, he was remorseful.
He nodded his head in
that
way.