Page 85 of Be Very Quiet

“Yep.”

“Did you know each other back in Minnesota?”

“Nope. We met when he started working at the studio.”

“You were friends, yet you framed him as being The Mortician.”

“That wasn’t nice of me, was it?” He chuckled. “It was too easy. As stupid as they are, I knew the cops would eventually figure out he wasn’t the killer. But it bought me time to do this with you.”

He ran the tip of the blade down her cheek. She held her breath. When she didn’t feel the steel pierce her skin, she asked, “Why did Theo use Rex as his real estate agent instead of you if you were close?”

“That was my idea. I told him to have Rex show him a unit in your building. I went along and pretended to sign my name. The stupid guard didn’t even check. While they looked at the condo, I detoured by your place to leave you a gift.”

“How did you get The Mortician’s souvenirs?”

His smile was pure malevolence. “That, my darling Liliana, is a secret I’ll take to my grave.”

As much as she wanted the answer, Liliana prayed that mystery would die in the next few minutes. “What did Georgia do when she discovered what you’d done?”

“She figured out I had used her computer. She was going to tell Rex and he would’ve called the cops. I had no choice but to stop her. She’d always acted better than me because she went to college, and I didn’t. Haughty bitch. No wonder her husband divorced her. Raping and strangling her had been fun. She’d begged and pleaded with me.”

He was sick. Liliana was afraid she didn’t want the answer to her next question. “Why Shonda?”

Theo shook his head. “I had nothing against her. She’d always been nice to me. But I needed the one person closest to you, and she drew the short straw. Your fault.”

Liliana wanted to scream and throw up at the same time. It wasn’t fair that Shonda had to die.

Even if Theo killed her here, she knew Luca would track him down and make him pay. She prayed he didn’t do something that would ruin his life. She wanted him to lead a long, happy existence, even if she couldn’t be part of it.

Hatred for Theo bubbled up inside her. He had ruined so many lives. She did not want him to touch her before he killed her. Death was preferable to rape. Maybe she could taunt him into using the blade now. “Why did you steal the MO of a known serial killer? Couldn’t you come up with anything original yourself, Theo? You even ripped off his moniker. Have you no imagination?”

“It’s my own,” he protested. “I do it my way.”

“No, you do it Ted Rader’s way. You are nothing but a pathetic copycat.”

“You bitch!”

Theo lifted the knife, and Liliana realized she’d provoked him too far.

Chapter Twenty-Nine

Luca’s heart ached for Shonda Johns. She’d suffered badly before her death and now she was being studied and photographed, with no regard for her dignity. It was necessary to bring her killer to justice, but it seemed so unfair.

He hadn’t had the chance to know Shonda, but she’d been Liliana’s best friend, so that made her special. Her death would leave a scar on Liliana that would never heal. She would try to blame herself, but Luca wouldn’t let her. He would constantly remind her she wasn’t responsible for the acts of a deranged monster. In fact, he needed to do that now.

He glanced to where she was sitting . . . or had been a few minutes ago. Smoke was there, meowing insistently inside his carrier and pawing to get out. “Did you see Liliana leave?” he asked Christian.

“No.”

Luca tapped Audria on the shoulder. “Where’s Liliana?”

“Right—” She spun in a circle. “She was just here.” Audria craned her head around. “Did you see her leave, Reese?”

“No.”

Luca grabbed one of the uniformed officers. “Have you seen Ms. Lima?”

“Yeah, a guy came rushing up to her, and she went with him down that hallway.” He pointed toward the storage room. Only emergency personnel had been allowed inside, so it must’ve been a cop.

---