Chapter 6
Chapter Six
He couldn’t help it. Booming laughter escaped from Atlas. As if he’d ever give up anything that easily.
“Right.” A sniff from Lily. A cute, little annoyed sniff.
She was just being so delightful. So serious and intense as she accused him of being a serial killer.
“Didn’t think you would fess up. Especially since I now believe you are his target, and not, in fact, the killer that Benedict and I had begun to hunt in the area. ”
Now that stopped his laughter. “You were hunting with Benedict?”
“A predator has disemboweled two individuals in the Dallas area. Sure, most officials will say a perpetrator must have three or more vics before earning the moniker of serial killer, but I say…if the signs are there, why wait when you know what’s happening?
” Very deliberate. “I told Benedict after the first kill that I was concerned a serial was at work.”
Again, Atlas asked his question, “You were hunting with Benedict?” Because he needed to be clear on this point.
“I came to town after I learned of the first murder. The method was very unusual. Deliberately painful. The killer clearly had the end goal of making his victim suffer as much as possible. I was…already looking into the Dallas area because of you, but the murder of William Lloyd did speed along my process.”
William Lloyd. Billy Lloyd. Petty thief turned drug dealer. A guy tied to the fentanyl overdose of three Dallas teens.
“Victim number two turned up shortly after that,” she added.
Yes, he was aware. Conry Harding had been the second kill. A suspected domestic abuser. An accused rapist. The son of a very wealthy real estate mogul. Conry had never actually spent any time behind prison bars.
But he’d sure gotten one gory ending to his life.
“After the second victim, there was no denying what was happening.” Cool words. Except they frayed just a bit around the edges. “The killer only had three weeks in between the murders. That time frame alarmed me.”
“Oh.” A nod. “That alarmed you. That part. Not the fact that he’d pulled their insides to the outside. Sure. The time frame is the concerning part of the equation.”
She exhaled. “With a first kill, predators can take years to build up to the actual attack. There should have been some sort of cooling off period after he murdered William Lloyd. Three weeks after the first murder—if it was even the first—that told me that our predator was especially dangerous. He liked it too much.” She slid across the limo and pressed the button to lower the screen that separated them from the driver.
With barely a hiss of sound, the screen lowered.
“I’m going to need you to make a pitstop,” Lily told the driver right before she rattled off her address.
Atlas was well aware of her address. He should be, after all, considering that he owned the property. A new acquisition. As in, new from a week ago.
“Boss?” From the driver. Carl Hansen had been his driver for the last three years. The man was also a bodyguard, former Delta Force. Quiet. Intense.
“Take us there,” Atlas replied smoothly.
Then he was sliding forward. Her finger still pressed to the control for the screen.
His covered hers. Pushed down so that the privacy screen slid back into place.
He was so close to Lily that he could drink up her vanilla scent.
He could practically feel her warmth in the air.
But he could also see the faint shiver that slid over her skin. “Lily.” Atlas liked saying her name. “Are you afraid of me?”
She pulled her hand away from his. Her head turned toward him. Their mouths were inches apart. “Should I be?”
He wanted her mouth. “I try not to hurt innocent things in this world.”
“Don’t make that mistake about me. I’m not innocent.”
An immediate response. One that very much intrigued him all the more. “Oh?” Mild curiosity when he was really consumed by the desire to learn every detail about her. “How many people have you killed?”
She jerked. Hard.
Oh, Lily. Have you done something terrible? Do tell me all about it.
“I think we were talking about the killer currently hunting in Dallas,” she reminded him.
Yes, but he would rather talk about Lily, and not that killer. Still, he’d let her direct the conversation. For now. “You want us going to your rental because all of your files on the perp are there.” Fine. He’d like to see those files.
“The files on all my research subjects are there. If I’m not staying at the rental—”
“You won’t be.” They needed to be clear on this. “For the foreseeable future, you will be with me.” Done. He didn’t intend to let her out of his grasp. His mind practically spun as he considered all the ways that he could bind Lily to him. For her protection, of course.
And because of his growing obsession.
“If I’m going to be at your place, then I need my research. It’s too important to me. I can’t lose it.”
“Surely, you have computer backups. In the cloud, yes?” He couldn’t wait to see that research.
“There are things at the rental I need. I will be collecting them.”
So interesting. And a bit mysterious. As for another interesting point… “When I woke up in the basement, you said I was in danger of being disemboweled. You think the man who took me—who took us—is the predator that you and Benedict were hunting.”
She didn’t speak.
“Why, Lily?” He settled back into his seat.
The one right next to her. His thigh brushed against her leg.
“What made you think that sadistic prick had turned his attention to me?” His lips pressed together.
He choked down his rage at the idea of that sonofabitch touching Lily.
“I don’t remember a bomb being part of his MO. ”
“Punishment is his MO.” She shifted a bit on the seat. “Punishment can come in all sorts of forms.”
She was not wrong about that. “How did you decide that this, uh, punishment killer had come after me? I’m not a drug dealer. I’m not a rapist. In fact, I have no criminal record.” Despite the efforts of one very enterprising cop.
“Benedict warned me about you.”
That would be the enterprising cop in question. Now they were getting to the good stuff. “Did he?”
“He was convinced that you were basically running the underworld here in Dallas.”
Atlas laughed again. Okay, for such a seemingly serious woman, she was filling him with delight. “I have no interest in running the underworld. I am fully occupied running my billion-dollar company and employing thousands of people, but thanks so much.”
“Appearances can be deceiving.”
Just that. Those four casual words. Atlas fought his smile because he really should not enjoy her this much, not under the circumstances.
They could have been killed that night. Benedict—prick that he had been—was dead.
“Benedict hated me.” True story. “He could never find a single shred of evidence to tie me to any crimes.” Because I don’t leave evidence behind.
What am I? An amateur? “Benedict was convinced I was as twisted as my father, and he couldn’t wait to lock me away. ”
A delicate throat clearing. “He was not a fan of yours, no.”
His eyes narrowed. “Was that a joke?”
“It was a statement of fact. Benedict thought you were guilty of an assortment of crimes, and I believe this punishment killer also thought you were guilty. As to why I decided he was the one who’d taken us…
I read the ME’s reports on the two previous vics.
Both suffered blows to the rear of the head that would have incapacitated them.
Both were taken from dark parking lots, with no witnesses around, as if the perp had been watching them.
Learning their routines. Waiting for the perfect moment to strike. ”
Yes. Atlas had even altered his routine just so he could have time in a dark parking lot to find the bastard. These details were not news, but Atlas said nothing.
“They were cuffed. The cuffs had bitten deeply into their skin as they struggled. The handcuffs left very distinct markings on them.”
Now, he just could not help himself. He reached out and snagged her injured wrist. He hated that anything had been left on her skin but… “Marks like these?”
“Much deeper, but clearly consistent with handcuffs being locked around their wrists. The information about the blow to the head and the handcuffs was never released to the public. Only our killer would know that intel.”
“So based on some head wounds and cuff marks, you decided the killer had come after me.” Why not?
But his serious Lily just nodded. “I think the killer was working up to you the entire time. I think he believes he is eliminating evil. You are evil…to him, anyway.”
He loved touching her soft skin. “But you originally thought I was the predator, didn’t you? That I was the one punishing? Pretty sure I remember you apologizing for being wrong about me. Things were a little hazy when I first woke up in that pit of hell, but those words stood out.”
“I, um, I don’t know that I apologized.”
“No? Well, then you clearly should apologize. Go ahead. Because if you think a man is a savage killer, you should apologize when you’re wrong about that important point.
” They’d turned and were heading toward her rental.
About five minutes away. He recognized the streets.
Perhaps he’d driven by her place a time or two.
“I think I do deserve an apology,” he decided.
“A lovely, heartfelt apology because you have wounded me so greatly.”
“Fine.” Bit out. “I’m sorry that I thought you were disemboweling people. There. Better?”
He winced and let her go. “Disembowelment never would be my chosen method. Why the hell would you want to get so gory with someone? Can you imagine the crime scene cleanup that would be involved? I mean, you might as well just put on a hazmat suit because the blood splatter from that kind of thing would be horrific.”