Page 51 of Torn In Two

I didn’t want to think about the marks on her body. The bruising that would be around her neck from someone putting a cord around it and pulling it so tight she couldn’t breathe.

Kara’s voice was small. “Does she have a sister too? That’s the mark of this killer, you believe, don’t you? He kills sisters?”

I nodded even though she couldn’t see me. “I don’t know yet. It will probably take some time to identify the body. But the rest…the strangulation, the hair color, the body type…they all fit. I know it probably freaks you out to think you could be a target…”

She breathed softly down the line. “I don’t even know if it does, you know? I’m already my husband’s target. I have to look over my shoulder every day for him. The worst part is the reach he has. He’s made me question everybody and everything. I thought I’d recognize his followers, but after what happened, I realize his reach goes beyond anything I’d ever dreamed of.”

“Do you still think it was your husband and his people who killed your sister?”

“I do,” she said, voice sure but sad.

I shoved another cushion behind my head, trying to get comfortable. “I still think it’s my guy. Do we have any other suspects?”

“The police are still looking at Kyle. He’s the guy we traveled here with, who disappeared the same night of my sister’s death.”

I didn’t like the grief that settled into her tone. I wracked my brain for something to say that would distract her. “We could put all their names in a hat and draw one out? Put this to bed once and for all?”

She let out a tiny laugh. “If only it were that simple, huh?”

It was so far from that simple it was laughable. Josiah and his people were all out in plain sight, which was what had me doubting Alice’s death was at their hands. Gut instinct told me they wouldn’t have made an attempt on Kara’s life so soon after, knowing the police were watching them.

The kid they’d been traveling with seemed like an obvious choice, especially because he’d been conveniently missing ever since.

The only problem with all of that was it only lent further weight to my theory.

Trigger would have had no qualms in offing a scrawny teenager before wrapping a cord around a pretty young thing’s neck.

Just like I was sure he’d done to my wife and her sister years before.

The day before their deaths had been the last time I’d seen him. He’d been MIA ever since, forever an empty seat at our group meetings.

Anger boiled deep inside me, and I fought to keep it under control, even though there was nobody here to see it. Every time my burner phone rang, I hoped and prayed the meeting that followed would be the one Trigger finally returned for.

So I could kill him with my own two hands for everything he’d taken from me.

For everything he’d taken from Kara.

I forced my fingers to unclench the phone, rubbing away the ache that sprang up inside me whenever I thought about the man who’d murdered my family. “We should talk about therapy,” I suggested, trying to force some sort of professional tone, even though my stomach twisted into painful knots just thinking about Kara being next on Trigger’s list.

“Oh.” Kara sounded surprised, like she’d forgotten I hadn’t just called to discuss possible suspects in her sister’s murder case and morbidly talk about the dead body my buddy had found.

Not that Whip was my buddy. Whip had no buddies.

Neither did I, for that matter. No true ones I’d actually been able to spill my secrets to.

Except Kara. She was the only person I’d ever told about my wife. Or about the cages.

I put my phone on speaker and switched to the calendar app, scrolling through my schedule. “Do you want to bring her in this week? I’m really booked up, but I could do an early session before school or a late one after it?”

Kara paused. “Is the hospital the only place you can do them? The last time we took her there, she saw Hawk punch you in the face… That’s obviously not your fault, but we just have her settled into a new routine, and I’m so reluctant to do anything to upset it. She’s still not talking at all, and I just wonder if maybe a less sterile environment might be more beneficial to getting her to open up.”

I nodded, scribbling a note about Kara’s concerns on a piece of scrap paper I found on the kitchen counter so I could transfer it to Hayley Jade’s file later. “I do house calls all the time. Many people feel more comfortable talking in familiar surroundings. What’s your address?” I hadn’t paid it any attention when I’d grabbed her number from the hospital paperwork.

She paused. “I…um, I don’t know if that’s a good idea either. I was thinking maybe a park or something…”

I frowned. “I think her home really would be better. If you’re worried about me judging your place, please don’t. I would never.” I truly meant it. I’d lived in some shitholes in my time. Nothing fazed me.

“We’re living in an MC clubhouse in the middle of the woods with at least a dozen bikers plus a couple of club women.”

---