Heart Beating (Best Served Cold #4)

Chapter 1

HARLOW

"Chef Stabby," Boner read proudly. "That's what they decided to call the killer of Harrison Frankel. Yes!" He fist pumped the air.

I slid a look in Cass' direction. "Did you have anything to do with that?" He was good with technology. If anyone could have dropped some hints here or there on a blog or…wherever, it would be him. Besides, he got a cagey look in his eyes when Boner started reading about Hypnos' death.

His smile barely contained, he said, "I might have. They would have figured it out sooner or later without any help."

"Of course they would have," Boner agreed. "Eventually. Hypnos was found dead with a bunch of chef knives buried in him. Someone would have come to the conclusion, one way or another."

"I appreciate you both," I told them.

Did this mean I'd finally arrived? Real serial killer nickname. What more could a girl want? Okay, my four men, orgasms, and a tub of chocolate chip ice cream. Not necessarily in that order.

Jules, who stood near the window looking out at New York City, turned toward us.

"Only you four would celebrate the press finding out his killer was a chef. You think they aren't going to be keeping an eye on every chef in the city?"

We all turned toward Archer Hardwick, who was scrolling through his phone while slouched in a chair behind the dining table. He glanced up at us. His brow creased slightly.

"Just a moment." He tapped on his phone screen. "There's approximately seventeen thousand restaurants in the city. Many of those would have multiple chefs working there. Narrowing it down to one won't be easy."

"Zeus is the only person I'm worried might find me," I said.

Hypnos told me his real name before I drove his own scissors into his throat. I hadn't decided what to do with that information yet. I'd stewed on it since last night, trying to get my head around it.

I knew this for certain, I had to act quickly, before he acted against me.

Against us.

He would, it was inevitable, I didn't know when or how, but he would.

If we gave him the chance. Which we wouldn't, if we could help it.

"We found Hypnos. We'll find him too," Boner said, nodding confidently. He placed his phone down and wrapped his hand around mine. "I'm going to stick like glue to you night and day. No one's kidnapping my woman again."

I smiled, heartened by the determination in his striking blue eyes.

I refrained from reminding him we were gassed. Put to sleep so Hypnos could take me. Boner couldn't have prevented that. None of us could.

Unless...

I'd been too trusting of my new employee, Yvette. She was the one who placed the canister under the table for Hypnos to open before he slipped out the door.

I hired her because I thought she needed my help. A hand up, to get her life back on track. I'd given her an opportunity to better her circumstances.

She threw all of that back in my face by working against me from the beginning. Conspiring with her father, Hypnos.

Okay, I understood her loyalty. She'd believed the lies he spun about the kind of man he was. The things he'd done. She thought she was doing the right thing.

Because of that, she was dead. Another person gone because they were misguided, not because they were bad people.

I squeezed Boner's hand, but I still felt Detective Getzoff's blood on my palm.

Slick between my fingers. Because of me.

I might as well have been the one to pull the trigger.

For years I'd tried to keep the innocent from getting hurt.

Caught in the crossfire between my crusade and the predators I hunted.

I knew it might happen one day, but I wasn't ready for it. How do you prepare for something like that? You can't. I couldn't. I had to try to put it behind me and focus. Zeus was what mattered now.

"Are you okay, love?" Boner asked softly.

"I don't know," I admitted.

I kept replaying last night over and over in my head.

Being thrown inside the industrial vat while the water heated rapidly.

I could have drowned or been boiled alive.

All while the detective's blood literally coated my hands.

Hypnos had rubbed them in a pool of it before dragging me to the vat, to remind me I'd used Getzoff as bait to try to catch him.

I had caught him.

I still didn't like the price paid for his death.

"He can't hurt anyone else," Cass said, leaning over closer to me.

"Better him than us," Jules said.

"I know," I told them all. "I just wish…"

I shook my head. It didn't matter what I wished. It wouldn't change what happened. I should have been on guard. I should have checked under the tablecloth to make sure there weren't canisters ready to put us to sleep.

I should have…

I don't know what. Told Getzoff to leave right after he finished eating? If I had, he'd still be alive. Or would he? It was possible Hypnos would have killed him anyway. I could guess multiple different hypothetical scenarios and not necessarily be right.

"You know what you need?" Boner asked. "A vacation."

"I don't have time for a vacation," I said, shorter than I intended. "I have two restaurants to run."

"If you repeat this, I'll deny it," Jules said, "but Boner is right. You need a break from all of this."

"What I need," I said slowly, "is for Zeus to be dead. Then I can relax for a little while."

"Statistically, tired people make more mistakes," Archer said. "If you take a couple of days off, dealing with him will be easier."

"Assuming he doesn't deal with us in the meantime,” I said, rubbing my temples with my thumb and forefinger. "He might be right outside the apartment building as we're sitting here talking about it. Ready to shoot one of us the moment we step out the door."

I pictured him shooting us, one after the other as we stepped outside, leaving us lying on the sidewalk, bleeding into the gutter.

Shuddered.

"Let him try," Boner said. "I have a newsflash for you. We aren't that easy to kill."

He gave me a cocky smile, but he was as mortal as the rest of us. None of us would survive a gunshot wound right through the middle of our brain, or a direct stab wound to the heart.

"It would be easier if we knew who he was," Cass said, looking regretful.

"Yeah." I couldn't bring myself to meet his gaze. I didn't know why I hadn't told them. I'd tried a couple of times, but the words wouldn't come.

It made no sense. I knew they'd believe me. I knew they'd help me deal with him. I just…couldn't say anything. Not yet. There were too many things I had to think through. Hypnos, Yvette, the whole thing.

The mistakes I'd made.

I had to figure out how to avoid making further mistakes.

Mistakes that would result in these men being dead.

I told myself I was trying to protect them.

If I could do this myself, there was no need for them to take any more risks.

No need for them to be in the firing line.

Or the stabbing line. Or the line to have their skin peeled off their bodies and used as shoes.

Okay, that was specific, but I knew a guy.

The less I say about that, the better. I'd never been inclined to wear my victims as footwear or a belt, but I couldn't say the same for others.

Some people like having a trophy. I had a collection of hearts in jars.

I wasn't in any position to go around pointing fingers.

Also, they were very nice shoes.

"Would it help to talk about it?" Boner asked. "I know you went through some traumatic shit last night. Anything you want to get off your chest?" He gave me a 'give it to me' gesture with his fingers.

The rest of them listened with intense gazes, ready to hear me out and not judge me.

I toyed with my long red ponytail. "I don't know what else there is to say. I woke up in that basement. Hypnos killed Getzoff. Then he tried to kill me."

"And you saved yourself," Cass said admiringly. "You're such a badass."

I responded to that with a faint smile. "I wasn't going to let him beat me. Not if I could help it," I said.

Not to mention that, at the time, I had no idea they were so close to finding me. What would I have done if I knew?

Honestly, nothing different. Killing Hypnos was a pleasure. More so than any of the rest of them. The first couple squealed like pigs and one had pissed his pants. Others pleaded for their lives.

Not Hypnos. He'd come after me. Used my own restaurant to trap me. What he did to my sister? That was bad enough. Hypnos made it even more personal. It almost took the sting out of Getzoff's death.

"That's my girl," Boner said, leaning over to nuzzle his face into my hair. "You weren't going to take any of it lying down, were you?"

"Not for a moment," I agreed.

"What else happened?" Jules asked. He regarded me with a long, searching look, like he knew I was holding back. He didn't know what or why, but he knew it was something.

"If you're ever stuck inside an industrial vat, remember they have rungs in there so you can climb back out," I said.

Hypnos must not have realized. Maybe he thought I wouldn't know. It was dark in there, I could easily have missed them if I hadn't known to look.

"That's very good to know," Boner said. He looked at Jules like he was trying to figure out what passed between us. Like Jules, he didn't know either.

"Are you planning to jump inside one?" Jules asked him, almost as though he was hoping the answer would be yes.

"Only on a hot day," Boner grinned. "Or a cold day if it's at the right temperature. We could have one installed as a hot tub."

"We wouldn't get it through the door," Archer said.

"That's not a no, if we can figure out a way," Boner pointed out. "Think how useful it would be. I mean, Hypnos tried to boil Harlow. We could boil Zeus." He seemed to like that solution.

"Think how expensive the water bill would be," Jules pointed out.

Boner didn't seem to like that solution anymore. "I guess we can make do with the acid bath and torture box," he said with a sigh. "I was trying to be creative, that's all."

I kissed his cheek. "I appreciate your creativity. It's just not practical in a place like this."

I wasn't sure I wanted to witness someone getting boiled alive either. I'd hate if my mouth watered at the smell of it.

Apparently I found another limit. I didn't want to cook predator soup. Not that kind of predator anyway. I'd stick to the regular kind, like chickens.

If you don't think chickens are predators, you've never watched them establish their pecking order. Those critters can get vicious.

"I'll think of something else," Boner concluded. "Something that'll match up with a serial killer name for me."

It seemed now I had one, he was on a mission to get one of his own.

Neither Cass nor Jules seemed inclined to want one for themselves.

Of course, Cass still hadn't killed anyone.

Jules had, defending us, not hunting alongside us.

They seemed more or less content to leave the killing to the rest of us.

That suited me fine. I didn't think Boner or Archer would complain either.

We did what we were good at and so did they.

Between the five of us, we made a pretty good crew most of the time.

I still had to figure out what I was going to do about Zeus and where they'd fit into it.

Sooner or later, I was going to have to let them in on it.

I'd promised not to go off alone, and I wasn't going to break that promise, not when I knew Zeus was going to come after me.

No, I'd take some time to think about it. Then I'd explain everything.

I hoped like hell keeping this secret for a little while wouldn't come back to bite me in the ass.