Page 60 of The Killer She Knew

“Perfect, wasn’t it? What better way to get close to you than to become your partner? Someone you trusted to have your back. I will say, I was afraid you’d see right through me after learning about your case history, but you have this drive about you. Nothing else but the case matters. So, I’d say it’s your fault we’re here.” Ford dragged a chair from the corner of the room, setting it in front of her. Two syringes in hand, he took a seat. “Alice played her part well, but during my research of you, there was something about Pierce Morrow that kept drawing me in. His work—though now I realize in the end it was your work, wasn’t it?—explained so much about me. For the first time, maybe ever, someone understood me. So I approached him. Not as myself, of course. No names. No specifics about my life. I changed my hair and the way I spoke, wore colored contact lenses and gained a few pounds. You understand. But from that first conversation, he showed an interest in me. About my thought processes, about how I chose my victims, what led meto start killing people. He saw the opportunity to revitalize his career and I… had a friend.”

Leigh didn’t know what to say to that.

Ford studied the syringes in his hand. “I spent time with him, got to know him and all his little mannerisms. We’d meet late at night when no one could put me in a room with him, but then this woman barged into Morrow’s office one night. She saw me. I saw her standing there, looking just like Teshia, and I knew how I would get you to come to me. I guess it turned out okay, though I’ll admit the plan wasn’t perfect. After that, it was a matter of covering my bases. Tamra Hopkins had to die after she saw me destroying the emergency radio in the stairwell, and then Morrow had to die because you discovered he had a personal relationship with Teshia. And we all know the lengths I’ll go to to punish those who touch what’s mine. So you see, everybody wins.”

She didn’t. She didn’t win. “You have a funny way of celebrating.”

“Who needs balloons when you have dead guys who can float?” The man she’d known as Ford extracted a blade, sliding it edge-up beneath her sweatshirt sleeve. Leigh struggled to pull her arm back, but it was no use. With a strong pull, he sliced through the material and exposed her arm. “Don’t worry. I’m not going to kill you yet. Consider yourself an experiment… except we already know the end results.”

Setting the syringe against her inner elbow, he plunged the needle through layers of skin and straight into the nearest vein despite her fight. There was no escape. Then depressed the plunger. “There we go.”

An instant rush clouded her head and intensified gravity’s hold on her body. “What the hell is that?” Her tongue filled her mouth, too big.

“That would be a barbiturate.” Ford’s face blurred in her vision. Then the rest of him. It was getting harder for her to keep her head up. “You know what that is, don’t you? I’m going to let you sleep for a couple minutes. After that is when the fun starts.”

Getting drugged into unconsciousness was better than dying from arsenic and cyanide poisoning, but that didn’t answer what he planned to do to her once she woke. “I don’t like your fun…”

Time ceased. She didn’t know how long.

Searing pain erupted as she jolted awake.

Every muscle in her body strained for freedom. The zip ties cut into her wrists as a scream filled the room. Hers. She was screaming. Blood rushed in her ears. Too fast. Out of control. Another pinch drew her attention to her other arm where Ford pulled a needle free from her skin.

“And that is an amphetamine.” His words barely penetrated the hummingbird-fast sprint in her heard.

Energy unlike anything she’d experienced coursed through her. It stole her breath as easily as drowning and took just as much effort to relax back in the chair. Her insides had caught fire. Every inch of her body overheating in an instant.

“I’m interested in how long your heart is going to last. That was the first round, but I’ve got to be honest, Leigh. You’re not looking so good. You need to start taking better care of yourself if you’re going to survive torture. You never know what you’re going to face during an investigation.” Ford sat back in the chair across from hers. “Barbiturate, amphetamine, barbiturate, amphetamine. I like this new combination. I originally used arsenic and cyanide because that’s what I imagined Dean would use to kill a woman who’d cheated on him. He had access to all those compounds. This was when I was still trying to frame him for murder, but now I’m seeing the benefits of branching out, just like you suggested.”

If she survived this, she’d have to run a marathon to get whatever he’d shot her with out of her system. Holy hell. That hurt. A growl escaped her, shredding the skin along the inside of her throat. The room tilted without her permission. Drawing air shouldn’t be this hard. “You got hold of Dean’s old access code to the biomedical lab.”

“Would you believe me if I told you it wasn’t that hard?” he asked. “He took Teshia there once. I noticed the way you tensed up while we were in that lab searching for the arsenic and cyanide. Which makes me think he took you there, too, and all those memories between you two were coming back.”

Ford stretched his hand for her, curling his fingers around a strand of hair dangling in front of her face.

She tried to angle her head back and away, but he’d secured her too well. The surrounding flood waters had reached new levels, now slithering around mid-calf. While he’d chosen a new kill room, there would be no escaping this storm. Not for her anyway.

“My guess is Dean wanted to show you how important you were to him. Convince you that you were more important than his research, that he would break rules and protocols for his special girl.” Ford shoved to stand, heading back toward the lantern. Back to the syringes he’d left out on the table. Multiple pairs. “In the end, though, you were nothing but a tool. You know that, right? It was the same for Teshia. He got what he wanted from her then tossed her for the next prize. When she came crawling back to me, heartbroken and alone, all I had to do was ask her for the code, and voila. Framing him for her murder was even easier.”

The effects of the amphetamine hadn’t worn off, but they’d become more manageable as the drug spread through her whole system. Her skin tightened to the point of suffocation, head pounding too hard and too fast. She licked dry lips. Thirsty. Sothirsty. “We submitted the compounds into evidence. How did you kill Tamra and Morrow without them?”

“Use that magnificent brain of yours, Leigh.” He’d collected two more syringes. “You understand me, my motives, my MO. You say I’m disciplined and intelligent and compulsive. How did I manage to continue killing without those poisons at my disposal?”

Defeat gutted her. The ability to kill Tamra Hopkins and Pierce Morrow. His unending access to food when she’d most needed it. The way he’d managed to stay put together in those damn suits. “You had another stash.”

“Well, I couldn’t exactly finish what I started if I didn’t have the advantage, now could I?” he asked. “I admit, I went a little off book to get my hands on these compounds. Had to go back to the biomedical lab. I was there when one of those pesky researchers came in, though. He started asking me questions about what I was doing, who I was, blah, blah, blah. Long story short, I had to ditch my trophy collection in case he called security. This storm, though. I was not planning on that.”

“You and me both.” Leigh flinched as he set a third needle into the crook of her arm. He was going to put her under again. She didn’t know how long. How long until Ava started looking for her? How long before Ford turned all that hate-filled revenge on her adopted daughter?

“Now, I’m going to need you to scream real loud when you wake up to get Dean’s attention.” Ford emptied the contents of the syringe into her veins. “I know he’s around here somewhere. So let’s make it convincing, Leigh.”

The effect was instant, dragging her back into unconsciousness despite how hard she tried to stay awake. “Don’t touch Ava…”

A pinch blistered along her arm. Then fire. It burned every cell in her body. Blood and sweat beaded around the zip ties asshe wrenched at her wrists. Another scream tore from her chest. She couldn’t stop the tears from escaping this time. Leigh jerked against the chair to counter the agony sweeping through her, but it was no use. She wasn’t going anywhere, and no one was coming to save her.

“That’s two rounds, and you’re still here.” Cold worked higher up her pant legs as Ford’s outline shifted closer. It took more effort than it should have to get a good look at him. “I’m impressed.”

How long had she been out this time? How much longer would she have to suffer through the extremes of what her body could handle? Her head weighed heavier than ever. A numbness had started in her toes. Whether from the flood waters or the drugs, she couldn’t tell. Did it matter? Something acidic coated her tongue. Slivers of the chair’s arm stabbed into her forearm. She’d pulled against the zip ties so hard, she’d managed to crack the wood. Maybe whatever amphetamine Ford had shot her with could get her out of here after all. But how many more rounds could she realistically endure? “Glad I could… exceed your expectations.”

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