Chapter 31

Liam punched down on the hotel room table, the cracking sound reverberating throughout the suite. “I can’t think with all of this pacing going on,” he snarled at Willow, knocking over his beer in its wake. While leaping forward to snatch the bottle before it hit the white carpet, he also knocked off his research files. Liam cussed as he bent down to pick up the mess.

From across the table, Raine and Aaron looked up from their research. Raine crossed her hands over the papers before her.

“Are you sure this hotel is the best place for us to lie low?” She frowned at Liam as he snatched up papers and the rest of Willow’s sketches.

Aaron took a sip of his coffee before saying, “I can’t exactly see you two girls in some crummy dirty motel,” he half smiled. “Besides, it’s not like the movies; Motels are the first places to be sent fugitive alerts. I know FBI protocol, and a five-star place like this is perfect for now, Princess,” he said to Raine.

Liam banged his head on the table as he came up and cussed again.

“Perhaps we should take a break, we’ve been at it for hours,” Raine suggested, now staring at Willow who paced the length of the room from the door to the window.

Aaron shook his head. “No. We can’t waste a minute. Makayla might be with the killer.”

“We don’t know that,” Liam added.

Aaron glared at his brother. “Over ten girls went missing from the same place Makayla’s friend’s body was found.” He took another sip of coffee. “That is all the connection I need.”

“I never knew that?” Raine felt a pang in her chest for the missing girls. She looked at Aaron,

“Do you think the Devil’s breath killer also runs a sex trafficking ring?” Raine asked. She pulled a piece of paper from one of the files.

“I’m not sure it’s quite like that. Here take a look at this. This says Valmer used to be a volunteer at various hospitals. The police first thought this was how he found his victims.”

From across the room, Willow stalked closer, and as she snatched a picture of a younger Valmer from the table, her eyes widened.

“What is it?” Raine asked her.

“I’m not sure. There’s something about him, in this picture. It is a familiar sight.” Then Willow’s head jerked up. “Someone please kill that tap!”

No one knew what she was going on about. Instead, Raine looked at her sister, standing beside her, all cleaned up and out of her hospital gown.

“You look so good in those.” She said, motioning to the skinny jeans and white knitted cardigan in an attempt to bring her sister back into the present reality and distract her from whatever was plaguing her.

Willow suddenly whirled around, unlocked the door and exited the hotel room.

About to follow her, Aaron stopped her. “I don’t think that’s a good idea. I’ll go. I think she’ll listen to me.”

Before she could protest, he had slipped through the door leaving Raine standing with her mouth agape.

“What the hell just happened?” She swallowed against the awkwardness and stared down at the file in her hand.

Liam got up from the table and Raine felt her stomach flip as he stalked towards her. His eyes met hers and for one crazy moment, she thought he was going to make a pass at her. Then he walked right past her, saying, “Well, you did hide some pretty big shit from her.”

His voice echoed around the interior of the mini-bar fridge.

Raine stared at the back of him as he bent down reaching inside, blushing at the sight of his tight ass all packaged in perfectly fitting jeans.

“I never asked for any of this,” she said, holding the file out. “I never wanted a serial killer involved. I never wanted my sister to be haunted…” She bit back what she was going to say next as Liam turned around, opened the beer, and tossed the cap in the bin.

He leaned against the countertop, his legs crossed as he casually took a sip of the beer. His eyebrows arched as he asked, “So what exactly did you expect when you illegally obtained a donor heart for your sister?”

His question froze in her stomach, spreading ice through her veins. “Honestly,” she took a breath and feeling defeated, sank into the soft mattress of the oversized bed, “at the most, I’d go to jail—maybe for a long while. That’s why I wanted her to know nothing about it. I wanted to protect her. Keep her innocent.”

A lump formed in her throat, and she battled to keep the pain from spilling over into tears. “I thought that when I finally got caught, if she had no idea, she’d be cleared once they questioned her. But I’d hoped for a little more time. I just wanted to get my sister the life she deserves, and I was prepared to pay a high cost—but not this high. I never even knew this could be a possibility.”

Liam shook his head. “You live in the clouds.” He took another sip of his beer and stalked off to the bathroom, closing the door behind him.

“I thought you were on my side,” she whined after him.

From behind the door, he shouted, “This isn’t about sides!”

She moved closer to the door, leaning against the wall. “Liam?”

When he didn’t answer she asked him anyway. “Why would a security guard have so much knowledge of crimes? “It seems your FBI brother relies on you a lot. You should be working for them, not for an Estate.”

“I used to be Secret Service.” She heard him say before the sound of the shower filled the room.

Walking over to the bed, she looked at the file she still held in her hand, wiping tears as they soundlessly escaped onto tired skin. She fell back onto the mattress, her feet hanging over the bed. She felt pretty sorry for herself. Despite all her efforts on saving her sister, she had failed. Her next thought was that if it hadn’t been for Liam and Aaron, they’d probably both be dead.

She held the sketch above her, light from the ceiling shining on it from behind dramatically emphasized the open ribcages with their hearts removed. And as she wondered what it all meant, her eyes caught something in the simple black smudges behind one of the bone cages. In the dark cloudy shadows, a face emerged. Sitting up, she held the picture closer. There was definitely a face. But this one had distinct features.

When she heard the bathroom door open, smelling the steam and soap escape, she jumped from the bed.

“I found something,” she offered, hoping this might make Liam a little happier with her. She scrutinized his expression and as hoped, for a fleeting moment, he showed something other than scorn. He dropped his kitbag to the floor and came toward her, hair wet, smelling fresh and divine. She held out the sketch inhaling his scent, feeling totally at his mercy. His calculating eyes stared at her then down at the image.

He gave it back to her and took a water from the mini bar. “I don’t see it.”

“Look, I know in your brother’s eyes, I’m a criminal, and maybe in yours, too…”

His eyes met hers. “You are a criminal, Raine. Me liking you isn’t going to change that—but you’re also a really good person who made a really stupid error of judgement because the love you have for your sister blinded you to the consequences of your actions.”

Her chest ached at his words. It was a hard pill to swallow when others saw you in the same light you held yourself in.

“Well,” she said, sighing as the hope of something more between them extinguished. “I guess in that case, we better sort out one criminal at a time.”

She straightened her shoulders, walked over to him and showed him what she had seen, holding the image up to the light. “I know my sister’s sketches; she’s been sketching since before she fell ill—it’s something our parents…”

He sighed with impatience, and she bristled with his attitude.

“Do you know what? Find it yourself,” she said, striding across the room and slamming the door behind her.

“Asshole,” she muttered as she fell back against the wall of the hotel corridor. She wasn’t quite sure why she had made such a dramatic exit, only that she had needed to get out of there. She couldn’t handle the weight of his displeasure any longer, or the idea that maybe he now hated her as much as she hated herself.

She walked the stretch of the hallway, hoping to find her sister. As she rounded the corner, she heard familiar voices. She stood in the doorway leading to a balcony that overlooked the pool area. Aaron and Willow were perched on the edge of an ornate metal table. Her eyes narrowed on the scene as she saw Willow lean her head against Aaron’s shoulder. Studying their interaction, a sense of warmth spread through her. When had Willow last had this? The only males to show interest had been doctors or specialists. She’d been too sick. She was never just Willow, the beautiful girl with all the talent in the world. Willow, the girl with a wide smile, and big innocent eyes deserved to be loved.

Aaron’s voice carried across the small balcony space. “All I’m saying is that if I had to save my brother, I’d probably have done the same.”

Raine drew up at Aaron’s seeming support of her. She’d had him down as her number one enemy; the guy who was going to see justice through to the end and be the reason she would spend the rest of her years languishing in a prison. She hadn’t been expecting any kind of empathy.

“No, you wouldn’t have.” Willow’s tone was flat.

Aaron gave a soft chuckle. “Okay maybe I wouldn’t, but I have different resources at my disposal. I’m not a civilian so I know better. From what I’ve seen, you’re the only thing that matters in this world to her. Me and my brother—we’re not so…connected.”

“You don’t understand. You’re only seeing the surface. Her blind obligation to me…It’s selfish. I don’t quite understand it, but it’s broken me. She’s a control freak. It’s twisted everything and I feel I’ll never be normal. It’s all blown up. Her intentions…” Willow took a breath before continuing. “This thing inside of me… it’s horrifying and I’m not sure I can control it.” Willow’s voices pinched toward the end. “And she’s responsible for all of this. By taking a heart that doesn’t belong in the living world, she’s upset the balance of the universe.”

It sounded like Willow was about to cry. “I don’t expect you to understand, but I see things others don’t. Most of my life, I’ve been in an unreal space.”

Aaron shrugged. “From where I’m standing, you’ve done an amazing job of holding up. And just because I come across a little…” his head looked up at the star-speckled sky, “…don’t be fooled. I have feelings.”

“I don’t know how much longer I can fight these urges,” said Willow.

“What urges?” he asked, his voice with an edge to it.

“Meat!” It wants blood and meat, and something dark I don’t understand yet. But If I can understand it, perhaps we can catch this killer.”

Raine knew her sister well enough to know from her tone, Willow was holding something back.

“Well, we’re running out of time, Willow. We need to find his triggers.”

“I can’t just make his thoughts and feelings come out. This thing inside of me, it’s controlling me. What if I become a killer like him?”

Aaron just shook his head. I’ve worked with enough manipulative son of a bitches to understand what motivates a killer…”

“Power.” Willow breathed out, turning her face so that she was looking into Aaron’s eyes. “Endless power over others. I get the feeling it’s all about fixing something broken, something that once was helpless in him.”

“It’s a start,” Aaron said.

Raine suddenly recalling something, stepped onto the balcony, making out she had just arrived and not spent the last few minutes listening in on their conversation. She stepped thought the open door onto the balcony. “You have to believe you are stronger than what’s happening to you Willow. I do, why can’t you?”

“Ja, you would say that to make your guilt less.” Willow stood, her eyes holding so much anger. “When this is over, I want you out of my life.”

Aaron stood there in quiet support, and Raine thought how that wish was most likely going to come true if Aaron followed through and charged her. She tucked a strand of hair behind her ear.

“If that’s what you really want,” she said, turning her look from Willow to Aaron. “When this is all over, I promise I’ll turn myself in. Just promise me one thing—you’ll let Liam take me in, so he can earn his place back into the force.”

Aaron just nodded, and just like that, her fate was sealed.

Willow turned to Aaron, smiled a smile that Raine didn’t recognize and said, “Let’s catch a killer then.”