Page 31 of Dangerous Lies

Grim grabbed it and read the note out loud:

“Rose,

I'm so disappointed in you. How dare you run from the masterpiece I left you? They were your favorite, and you left them all to those men.

I never wanted to punish you before, but I thinkit'stime you pay for not accepting my gift.

Seeyou soon,

The only man who knows.”

“How romantic,” Grim said as she stared down at the paper. “Well, the punishment part isn't, but you have to admit this is kind of nice.”

“You realize he's a killer, right?” Casanova asked.

She shrugged. “We are all killers. I've taken out more men than this guy. Does that make me a bad person? I no longer have a soul, so I'm not sure. People brag about me and the men I took down. Those men were evil, yes, but they were also people.”

Casanova's expression softened. “I'll start writing you serial killer notes.”

“The spider gives me nothing, neither does the letter.” Lucas sighed. “Do you have anything else?”

“Yes, butitmight make me look crazy. Follow me.” Rose turned and left the kitchen.

Tyler was still watching TV as they followed her upstairs to the bug room. She walked to the closet, pushed the jackets to the side, and pressed her fingers against a keypad and another door opened inside the closet leading to a secret room. Ginger couldn't hold back his shock as he stepped through the hidden doorway. The left wall was full of crime scene photos. Under each one had a bug and a rose colored letter or a message in blood written on the ground.Therewere close to twenty murders on the wall.

“I need to send a pic of this to the boss. He thinks walls of pictures are clutter, but this is so helpful. I'm going to work out of here.” Lucas plopped down in the desk chair and pulled out his phone.

Grim shook her head. “Why didn't you go to the police?”

“I tried on this one.” Rose pointed to the first photo with her name written in blood. “They told meitwas scuff marks, and I was looking too much intoit. I needed to let the professionals do their jobs. I tried a couple more times and nothing.”

Itdid not surprise Ginger. The police didn't like when you told them they were doing their job wrong, and many didn't likeitcoming from a woman.

“I'm taking Rose back downstairs,” he said. “We leave for the police station in an hour.”

“Casanova and I have a couple of things to check out for the boss,” Grim said as they headed for the bedroom door.

Ginger pressed his hand to Rose's back and guided her back to the kitchen. He pulled two cups down from the cupboard and poured coffee in them, adding a touch of sugar to hers.

“We need to talk about last night.” She took a deep breath. “I don't think either of us meant foritto go that far. I don'tseehow we can make this work.”

He blinked, completely thrown by her remark. “You think I forced you into that last night?”

She shook her head. “That's not what I said. I was in the hands of a serial killer yesterday, and you found out about Tyler. These are huge emotional things, and we found comfort in each other.”

Itwas like a stab to the heart. She didn'tfeelthe same way he did? Howcouldhe have read everything so wrong?

“So, what was last night to you?” He tried to keep all the emotion out of his voice.

“I'll treasure the night. I wouldn't takeitback for anything in the world, but you have toknowthis won't work.”

He'd fallen for her and like her sister. This woman tore him up inside, and all he was to her was a perfect night. “So, we go back to normal, and when the op is over, Iseemy son when?”

Her eyes flickered to the living room. “Telling him something like this is big...”

She’d ripped his heart out all over again, but he wouldn’t walk away from his son. He'd already lost too many years because of a lie her sister kept. Everyone seemed to play a giant game with his life. For once, he was taking control.

“I won't let you keep him from me.”

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