Kill for Me

“I know. I heard the shot. I thought it was you. I thought you were dead.” Luke’s dark eyes flashed, fury and grief combined. “Hank was supposed to wait for me.”

“No, no. Bobby lured him in. I tried to warn him but it was too late. He was trying to save my life and now he’s dead.” She looked at Pete, who still knelt next to Germanio, his expression stricken. “Bobby shot Talia. She’s under the stairs.”

Pete was heaving his shoulder into the door in the staircase when two uniformed police cautiously approached the open front door.

“Agent Papadopoulos?” one asked, and Luke gently let Susa

“She’s alive,” Pete said, breathless from the effort. “Shit, Talia, you’re a mess.”

Pete leaned into the crawlspace while Luke unlocked Susa

“No!” Talia’s refusal burst from inside the closet. Susa

“We’re okay here,” he said to the officers. “Thank you.” When the officers were gone, he pulled Talia from the crawlspace. Her hands and feet were still cuffed. She was still hog-tied. Her slacks were covered in blood, her eyes filled with mortified rage.

“Just get the damn cuffs off,” she gritted. “Please.”

Pete unlocked the cuffs and rolled her to her back. “The medics are coming.”

“No.” Talia pushed herself up to a sitting position. “Bad enough she got me. I’ll walk out on my own two feet.” Luke and Pete each took one of her arms and lifted her. She grimaced, her cheeks red. “This is humiliating,” she muttered.

“What happened?” Luke asked carefully.

Talia’s glare was defiant. “Bitch got the drop on me. Tasered me.”

“How did she get the drop on you?” Pete asked.

Talia lifted her chin, daring them to push her further. “I had something in my eye.”

Tears, Susa

Talia’s glare faded abruptly. “I heard. I also heard you on the phone with Luke. That was fast thinking. Luke, get Arthur’s journals out of the study. They explain everything. Pete, get me out of here, please, and make me look like I’m walking on my own.”

Pete helped her out, hesitating before he lifted her over Germanio’s body. “Damn it, Hank,” he murmured. “I’ll update Chase, and get a location on the others.”

“What others?” Susa

“Not yet. Can you walk?” Luke asked Susa

“Yeah.” Hanging on to the banister, Susa

“I know.” A shudder shook him. “I just keep seeing her pointing a gun at you, again and again. Susa

“Later,” she said wearily. “I’ve read enough for one day.”

“I’ll take you back to my place. You can have some peace and quiet.”

“I don’t want quiet.” She looked over at Germanio’s body, then quickly looked away. “I don’t want to think. I want… I need supergluing.”

He frowned, puzzled. “What?”

She looked up at him. “Can you take me to your mother’s house, please?”

This made him smile, although his eyes remained worried. “That I can do. Stay here. I’ll get Arthur’s journals, then I’m getting you out of here.” He walked down the hall into the study. “Holy shit,” he exclaimed. “Susa

“The journals are worth more,” she said. “They’re worth justice,” she added in a murmur, just before her body went rigid, a scream froze in her throat, and a hand clamped over her mouth. A gun was shoved against her temple. Again. Goddammit.

“Which is why those journals will never leave this house.” The words were whispered silkily into her ear. Mr. Grant. “Which is why you’ll never leave this house, my dear.”

Luke went down on one knee to gather the journals from Arthur’s study floor and let his shoulders sag. Oh God. His stomach was rolling. He didn’t know if he’d ever be able to wipe from his mind the picture of Susa

Drawing a deep breath, he stood, arms filled with journals and ledgers, then frowned when the sharp smell of gasoline filled his nose. He turned and froze, raw fury rapidly replacing the shock of seeing one more gun pointed at Susa

Charles Grant stood in the doorway, his gun to Susa

“Agent Papadopoulos,” he said mildly. “I’m sorry I wasn’t home to welcome you this afternoon. Your visit was rudely una

Luke’s mind raced. Use what you know. He didn’t look at Susa

Charles smiled. “I’m sure you think you do.”

Luke regarded him carefully. “Maybe you’re right. Maybe I don’t know everything. Like, how the hell you got in here. We have cars guarding the entrance.”

“There’s a road that comes in from the back of the property,” Susa

“It’s how Judge Vartanian would welcome his midnight callers,” Charles said.

“Is that how you intend to get out of here?” Luke asked. “Sneak out the back way like all the other criminals?”

“Not exactly. Drop the journals and place your weapon on the floor.”

He’s waiting for Paul Houston, Luke thought, and hoped to hell Chase still knew where Houston was. “No, I don’t think I will.”

“Then she dies.”

“You’re going to kill her anyway. It’s what you’ve always wanted to do.”

“You have no idea what I’ve always wanted to do,” Charles said with contempt.

“I think I do. Because I know a great deal more about you than you think I do.” He paused, lifted a brow. “Ray, isn’t it? Ray Kraemer.”

Charles stiffened, eyes flashing in anger. “Now she’ll die pain- fully.”

“I know you know how to do that. I found Judge Borenson. You’re a sick bastard.”

“Then I have nothing to lose, do I?” Charles asked. “You’ll charge me with murder.”

The man’s voice was mild but the hand that clutched Susa

Again Charles’s eyes flashed, but his voice remained calm. “So what’s one more?”

“You kept journals?” Susa

“Perhaps,” Charles said, amused. “Your father was a lawyer. He kept impeccable records. And I am an English teacher, my dear. Journals are kind of my thing.”

“Arthur was not my father and you are a cold-blooded killer,” Susa

“You say that like it’s a bad thing,” Charles drawled. “Killing is an art. A passion. When done well, it’s extremely satisfying.”