Page 1 of Sour Layer

Chapter 1

The cool breeze in the night air competed with the heat coursing through my body. I stepped out of the shadows in front of a man dressed from head to toe in black. The ski mask covered his face, his hazel eyes a stark contrast to the darkness. I didn’t need to see his entire face to know who he was or what he was here to do.

The petite woman tucked away inside her house across the street must have been too much temptation. Choking the life out of her would have been simple for the killer standing in front of me. All the anger in the world didn’t justify what he had planned.

I’d do everything in my power to ensure his ex-wife wasn’t dying tonight.

“Carl, you don’t want to do this,” I said, firming my stance between him and his estranged wife in their once-shared Italianate-styled home. It was a beautiful home looked like all others on this street. One might think a suburban blue-collar family lived inside. The manicured lawn, the trimmed shrubs, and the red bike propped up at the garage were deceiving. I’d seen the bruises on his wife’s arm that told a different tale.

“How do you know my name?” he growled, pulling out a knife and waving it wildly, as if to scare me.

I wasn’t immune to death. Death was my childhood friend. But I knew I wasn’t dying tonight. Kind of like how I knew Carl would be hiding in this alley looking for an opportune time to strike.

“Does it really matter how I know your name? Personally, I wouldn’t have believed you were a violent guy. Just misguided with the loss of your wife and child. I almost felt sorry for you.”

His hazel eyes narrowed.

“Killing her won’t get you anything but jail time.”

“You don’t know shit, lady,” he sneered through gritted teeth.

“Don’t I?” I lifted my hands and motioned to our surroundings. “I knew I’d find you here. I knew you were going to try to kill her. I know you believe you deserve sole custody, and I know you beat the tar out of your wife. If she dies, you’ll be the prime suspect. You can’t be that naïve to think that you’d get away with it.”

“How the hell do you know what I have planned?”

“It doesn’t matter. All that matters is that you aren’t going to hurt them tonight. Or any night.”

He advanced on me. His fingers latched around my throat, and he shoved me against the brick house. Anger flashed in his eyes. “You can’t stop me.”

I pulled at his fingers and lifted my knee, connecting with his family jewels just as lightning sparked in the night sky.

Spotlights landed on us, and Carl dropped to the ground, clutching his junk while I bent at the waist, sucking in air. “Nice of you to join us.”

“Mercy, are you okay?” Officer Granger called out.

I held up a finger and gasped in more air while I nodded.

“Carl, hands behind your head,” Officer Granger said as he approached, his gun firmly trained on the man who’d been contemplating murderer.

Carl laced his hands on his head and sat back on his haunches as Granger cuffed him.

“Mercy, you started without me.”

“He was early,” I choked out while Granger yanked Carl to his feet.

“Carl, it looks like you’ll only be going away for conspiracy to commit murder and assault,” I said, tipping my head toward his bag, which was probably filled with rope and other essentials to pull off what he had planned.

“How the hell did you know?” Carl growled as Granger yanked him toward the car.

It always came down to that one question. How could I have known what they had planned? One touch of a person was all I ever needed to see how they were going to die.

When the wife touched me, I knew. Just like when Carl was choking me, I’d seen his too.

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