Page 148 of Obsession

I laughed tensely and ran my hand through my hair.

“Shane.”

“What?” I asked quickly.

“For starters, call me by my name.”

He was talking to me like I was some kind of frightened wild animal, I could tell. Calm and gentle, unlike yesterday when he’d spoken to me, when I was the same kind of animal but one that he’d tried to lure into a trap. Maybe he was doing the same thing now, but I didn’t care, as long as he found out who had done it.

I just nodded.

“Please tell me it’s paint.”

I pointed to the bed, still not daring to examine it closely as he had done. It looked so grotesque, this huge stain on my white sheet. It had probably seeped down to the mattress.

“It’s blood, Katherine.”

I turned my head toward him.

“I deal with it every day, I know how to recognize it. I’ll take it to the lab anyway, I just hope it’s not human.”

Involuntarily, I took a step back, shook my head and rubbed my arms, startled. I couldn’t remember the last time I’d been this frightened. I had hoped that it was paint, that it was just a sick joke.

When Shane noticed my unease, he reached out and touched my arm. He looked like he was prepared to catch me in case I fainted.

“I promise you I’ll take care of it, Katherine, but you have to be honest with me from now on.”

He knew I had lied to him yesterday, he had known from the beginning, but he had left me alone.

It’s different now,I repeated in my head.

When I felt stable, I stepped closer to the bed and took a closer look.

“I have no idea who would do such a thing,” I admitted, trying to find an answer to his question from earlier. “I have no… psychopathic enemies who would go this far.”

Shane looked at me the whole time, even if I was looking at the bed. I knew I wasn’t going to spend another restful night in this place.

“There’s no message. Absolutely nothing, and that leads me to believe that whoever did this expects you to understand.”

I had to say it. Not for me, not for Harris, but for my father. That was the only thing that made me talk, the terror that my father might be in danger because of me.

“Last night was the first time Harris … slept here.”

I didn’t need to go into detail, I allowed him to believe what he wanted.

“With your father in the house?”

I frowned, as if to tell him that wasn’t the topic of our discussion, and he just nodded.

“This is where I wanted to end up…”

“Yesterday you told me that if I knew the truth about him, I’d never get in his car. Tell me the truth. Tell me why Harris is so dangerous.”

I turned and looked at him sternly. That was one of the main reasons why I had brought him here. He looked at the bed and crossed his arms in front of his chest. I noticed he had a large tattoo on his left arm, a jumble of colors from which I could make out a skull and some weapons. It was like a sleeve. I’d seen it before, but I hadn’t been able to pay attention to it.

The policy was pretty strict about police officers and tattoos, especially ones that were so obvious and brutal, probably why he’d worn a shirt the first time. Dressed like this, without questioning me, he seemed younger than I’d judged him yesterday, even if it wasn’t any easier to relax around him.“

There’s a lot to say, Katherine, and it’s clearly not the right time to tell you about Harris Stone’s record.”

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