Evil Never Dies

He let go of the door, saw her blush as the doors slowly moved toward each other. Before the doors met, though, he grabbed hold of the edge of a door and squeezed his way back inside the elevator. “I forgot something,” he said.

Five seconds passed before the doors began to close again.

“It’s a lovely day, isn’t it?” he asked her.

How fitting, A

After she’d pointed him in the direction of Dr. Roth’s office, she’d stepped into the elevator and felt a ripple of anticipation rush through her body. Instead of being afraid, she’d felt a thrill she couldn’t explain if she tried.

When the man turned and stopped the elevator doors from shutting so he could step back inside, a moment of trepidation had fallen over her, but any worry was short-lived. He had simply forgotten something.

“It’s a lovely day, isn’t it?”

He had a rich and pleasing voice. He asked the question in such a way that made her feel as if he knew she’d just been handed a second chance to live life. His eyes were so blue, his smile so bright, she had a difficult time looking away. “Today is the best day of my life,” she said cheerily.

He smiled again and said, “You have no idea how happy that makes me.”

Their space was limited, but he stepped closer, all the while looking at her with a fiery intensity.

Her pulse raced.

He lifted his hands, and for a moment she actually thought he was going in for a kiss.

“I’m a married woman,” she said as his fingers brushed over her throat, her eyes never leaving his.

“Even better,” he said. And then his hands clamped hard around her neck and he began to squeeze. It was then she noticed not only his crooked nose but four faint lines across his cheek. Scratch marks he’d tried to cover up.

This wasn’t his first time. He’d killed before. And he would kill again.

Today was not the first day of the rest of her life, after all.

It was her last.

If only I’d taken the stairs, she thought as the elevator lurched to a stop and her legs crumpled beneath her.

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

Lizzy had been sitting behind the wheel of her car in the parking lot at a shopping center in West Sacramento for over an hour. Kobi Millard worked at the bank. She was one of many women who had been sexually assaulted by Wayne Be

Lizzy needed to talk to her, and she figured Kobi Millard had to take a lunch sooner or later.

Her stomach cramped, and she winced in pain.

Damn.

She white-knuckled the steering wheel, reminded that she needed to make a call to the doctor. Something was definitely not right. It was time for a checkup, and she’d already missed one appointment. About to turn on the engine and ask her voice-activated phone to call her doctor, she stopped when she saw Kobi walk out the front door of the bank and head for her car.

It was about time.

The woman’s sleek black hair was rolled up high on her head, her bangs sweeping across one eye. She wore a two-piece gray suit and black heels. Kobi climbed into a silver Toyota Corolla with a dented bumper.

After Lizzy followed her car for less than two miles, Kobi made a right and parked in front of a grocery store. Lizzy parked nearby, jumped out of the car, and caught up to her before Kobi could enter the store. “Hi, Kobi, my name is Lizzy Gardner, and I need to talk to you.”

Kobi stopped and looked Lizzy over, her eyes sca

Lizzy let go. “I don’t have a recorder on me, Kobi, I swear. Not even a phone. I just need to know the truth. I can’t get the monster or even go after him if nobody will straight up tell me the damn truth. Is he raping young women enrolled in his program?”

A heavy sigh escaped Kobi as she looked around the parking lot. Finally, her gaze met Lizzy’s again. She nodded and said, “Yes.”

“Did he rape you?”

A very subtle nod was her response.

“But he paid you off, and that’s why you refuse to talk,” Lizzy stated instead of questioned.

Kobi’s somber expression turned to fury. Her anger tightened all the features on her face. The woman smoothed out the bangs covering her forehead and straightened her shoulders, lending power to her stance and fire to her eyes. “You’re a bitch, Lizzy Gardner.” She then jabbed her finger into Lizzy’s chest.

“Ouch.”

She did it again.

“Knock it off!” Lizzy looked down to see if she was bleeding.

“He didn’t pay me one cent. He threatened my life and the life of my daughter. Valerie is my everything. If he finds out I talked to you and messes with my family, I will come after you myself. I swear I will.”

“I’m sorry,” Lizzy said.

“No, you’re not. You wouldn’t still be standing here if you were.”

“He’s ruining so many lives,” Lizzy told her, “and he’s getting away with it. It’s only going to get worse. Miriam Walters is still missing, and yet I can’t find anyone who will talk to me.”

Kobi’s head fell. Her chin nearly hit her chest.

“We both know she’s probably dead,” Lizzy said. “And we both know who killed her. My girls and I have been following him for weeks. With or without your help, I will catch him in the act and I’ll make sure he’s put behind bars for a very long time.”

“Tomorrow night, after work,” Kobi blurted. “Six o’clock. He’s asked one of the women in the program if she would like to be interviewed for the chance to work for a very lucrative company. He’s told her the pay starts at sixty thousand.”

“You’re no longer in the program. How do you know this?”

“I have my ways. Just like you. The girl was warned, though. But sometimes we don’t listen because we all like to think we’re special, don’t we?”

“So there won’t be an interview. He’ll take her somewhere else instead?”

Her eyes narrowed. “You didn’t hear any of this from me. Me and you,” she said, “we never talked. And don’t you ever come anywhere near me again—you hear me?” And then Kobi Millard turned around, spine stiff and head held high as she made her way toward the store’s entrance.

Lizzy watched the house, her gaze on the electric gate in front of a long driveway lined with palm trees. Even from here she could see the fountain with trickling water in front of the grand entrance to Wayne Be

What is he doing at this very moment? His wife probably shoved di