Page 13 of Spiteful Heart

“I’m going upstairs to talk to Eric,” I told Newton. “Feel free to continue being a little bitch while I’m gone.” I spun on my feet and walked away from him, greeting the slightly confused expressions of Viper, Maddox, and Big Mike. All of them could tell that exchange between Newton and I hadn’t been a friendly one.

Either Newton was hiding something, or he was my guy, doing this to throw me off the trail, to see my reaction to a body first-hand.

Or he was just an asshole. That could be it, too. Men in this city seemed to be more asshole-y than not.

Maddox and Viper hung on either side of me as I walked toward the stage. I went toward the stairs in the back of the stage, and once I got on its flat, raised platform, I could see the body much better. Mike hung back, near the round tables situated just before the front end of the stage, his arms folded over his chest.

“What was that about?” Viper asked in a hushed whisper, but all I did was shake my head, silently shushing him. I’d tell him about Newton and mine’s little talk once we were out of here. Doing so while we were still here, well… let’s just say I still didn’t know what Newton’s deal was, and I didn’t want him to know that.

I walked toward the body, stopping when I stood beside her. Her clothes were gone, her body naked and bruised, just like the others. Her eyes were open, her head tilted to the side. She stared at me with vacant, dilated eyes, a blood vessel in the left one popped and red. Her blond hair was stained in blood, the bruises on her body plentiful. Her neck was almost severed, just like the others, blood having pooled around her displayed corpse.

And her face… it was just like Tina’s face. Her teeth were visible, everything under her nose cut off. Her cheeks, her lips, even the skin on her chin gone. A garish skeletal appearance that would give any normal person nightmares for the rest of their life.

“This one’s different,” I whispered as I knelt beside her, careful to not get in the blood.

“How?” Maddox asked. “Besides the face, I mean. They aren’t all like that—”

He was right, but that wasn’t what I was referring to. “Look at the blood around the cuts on her face.” It still looked wet, sparkling in the bright overhead light; even if there wouldn’t have been a body here, the Gilded Rose certainly would still look different with the lights on.

Tina’s face didn’t have blood around her skull-like lower half. This one did, and even though I wasn’t a forensics expert, I had the feeling I knew exactly why that was, and when you took in the rest of the scene, it added up and pointed to the same conclusion.

“She was still alive when he cut into her face,” I said, unable to imagine what terror this girl surely felt in her last moments. “Just like she was still alive when he brought her here.” I stood, unable to drag my eyes off her corpse. “I bet he did everything right here. All the others were killed somewhere else and then dumped like trash.”

“Why would he do that? Why risk having someone come here and see him?” Viper asked. “What if Newton would’ve had workers here?”

“It was a worker who found the body,” I whispered, glancing over my shoulder at Newton, who, I saw, had refilled his glass with more alcohol. The man seemed to be able to pound it back pretty easily. “Only a few people would know when no one’s in the Gilded Rose.”

Finally, Maddox and Viper understood what I was getting at, and they both glanced at Newton, too. Thankfully, the man had his back turned to us, so he didn’t see us watching him.

“Come on,” I said. “The worker who found her is upstairs. I want to have a little chat with him before we go.” I pulled myself away from the body—but not before giving her one last look. Her mangled face, her bruised corpse… I couldn’t stop him from killing again.

This wasn’t a game of cat and mouse. This was a game of cat and cat, except one cat was running around, trying to catch the other, blind. I’d give you one guess as to which one I was in that analogy.

I walked away from the corpse, heading off the stage and making a beeline straight to the door that led to the stairwell in the back. I pushed through the employees-only door, heading up the metal staircase. Viper and Maddox came up with me, while Big Mike remained downstairs, which was probably a good idea. Watch the fuckers down there in case they did or said anything while we were up in the private office talking to Eric.

A guard stood near the door to Newton’s office, but I paid him no attention as I walked right on by. He didn’t stop us; Newton probably told him I’d be coming. I pushed inside the office, my lips curling into a frown when I gazed upon the familiar place.

I never did like coming here, not after everything that had happened. It wasn’t that I couldn’t face down the past, it’s more like I just wanted to move on, you know? Not so much forgive and forget, but just… just move the fuck on. In my book, there was no forgiveness and there was certainly no forgetting.

Eric sat in a lonely chair facing Newton’s desk, but when he heard us walk in, he leaned over the side of the chair and turned his head to look at us. “Oh,” he said. “It’s you.” His face was vaguely familiar; he was someone I’d grabbed and told him that I needed to talk to Newton before, back when this serial killer was still new. A younger guy, in his early twenties, I’d say. Around my age.

“Eric,” I purred out his name, sauntering over to the desk. I moved between him and the desk, leaning my ass on the edge. “How are you doing today, hmm? Other than finding a body when you came to work.”

Viper wandered over to the floor-to-ceiling glass on the side of the room overlooking the rest of the club, while Maddox came to stand beside me.

“Uh, I’m okay… I guess.” He swallowed, looking mighty uncomfortable, almost like he was scared of me. Well, if he knew who I was, he definitely should be. He shifted his weight in the chair, so pallid it looked like he wanted to vomit.

Been there, buddy.

“So, I heard you were the one who found the body. Care to tell me exactly what happened this morning?” I gave him a smile even though it was fake. Now was definitely not the time for smiles, but coming from a beautiful gal, even a fake smile put men at ease. Men really were so easy to play.

“Yeah, uh.” Eric rubbed the side of his face. “I was coming in to take inventory, see if we have to order anything. I also make sure the cleaning crew did their job. You know, get everything ready for tonight.”

“Do you do that each shift?”

“Inventory’s once a week, but everything else? Yeah. The only thing I don’t deal with is the money—that’s always Newton.” Eric’s gaze fell to his lap, and he fiddled with his hands uncomfortably. “But this morning… when I walked in, I knew something was different. I could smell it. Piss and blood.”

I nodded. He didn’t have to explain that to me—though, personally, the scent of blood was what caught my nostrils, not so much the piss.

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