Crimson Lies

Chapter Fifteen

Lisa

I did not like the situation. At. All.

It was nighttime. They were driving to Roseanne's family home in the Appalachians, just a few miles from where the recent murders had occurred and the site of her sister's abduction.

Thoughts exploded in my mind. What were her colleagues up to?

If I hadn't insisted on accompanying her to Lindsey Keeble's funeral Roseanne would be up here in West Virginia, alone. So what if she was an FBI agent? This guy had killed over and over and had proved he had no compunction about hurting people to feed his sick appetite.

Some might argue I was the same but they'd be missing the point. I worked for the government. Their government. I might be deniable if caught, but it didn't change the fact I only killed people as ordered. The same way a sniper took out the enemy or soldiers killed in combat. Everyone knew what the CIA did abroad. Was it so big a stretch to think the government would also do it on home soil?

Deniability was king.

If an assassin had taken out the warlord ruling a small town in Herat Province the men in my unit, my brothers, would not have been mowed down like bloody skittles. That's why I'd said yes to the CIA all those years ago. To save fellow Americans. I didn't choose targets for revenge. I did not rape, torture or strangle people for jollies. My work was dark and I did it as efficiently and painlessly as possible.

This serial killer had his own agenda and right now he was orbiting Payton Park's twin like a satellite about to crash to Earth. I wouldn't allow any harm to come to Roseanne even though I got in deeper and deeper every time I looked in her eyes.

But I'd rather break her heart than see her murdered. My heart didn't matter. The fact that I still had one was an unpleasant surprise.

I'd spent most of the day wanting to kiss her and taste her, but couldn't afford the distraction. Now wasn't the time. My instincts were screaming that something was off about this whole situation. Something didn't fit. "We should go to a hotel."

"Local ones are full up thanks to the press." Who'd got wind of the double murder and possible serial killer. "And it's stupid when my dad's house is just up the road."

Up the road was a relative term in West Virginia.

"Plus..."

"What?"

I heard her swallow. "SSA Frazer suggested I might remember more about the night of Payton's abduction if I was at the place where it happened."

And that asshole was willing to throw her to the wolves for a tidbit of information. Or maybe he just trusted her capabilities and I was being an overprotective jerk? But if he'd wanted to kill Roseanne he could have done so a thousand times over-FBI training or no FBI training-and even the idea made me want to puke.

The killer playing this game with Roseanne and her family was dangerous. But he didn't know the truth about me and that was her secret weapon-she just didn't know it.

"You think the PP Killer is the same person who killed that couple last night, don't you?" I asked.

She darted a glance at me. "The MO's different...but yes. I do."

"You think he's local?"

She swallowed and then nodded. I did too. If not local, then at least living here for the time being.

They turned down a small road, headlights cutting through an avenue overhung by majestic elms. The landscape felt stark, everything battening down the hatches for a long hard winter. I glanced at Roseanne's profile rimmed in icy green from the dashboard lights.