Page 24 of Dangerous Secrets
“What you’re saying is theassaults are happening more frequently and moving closer toSisters.”
“That’s the pattern.Lawenforcement is spreading the word for people to be cautious.Thatmeans women shouldn’t be walking out of bars alone, late atnight.”
“I’ll make sure Delaneyand Keeley get the message.”
“Good.The attacks havegotten increasingly more violent.Last one, the fucker nearlykilled the woman.She would’ve died if someone hadn’t found her andgotten medical help when they did.”
“DNA?”
“No.Must’ve used acondom, but same MO.A woman flying solo leaves a bar late, drunkor close to it.He grabs her from behind.She wakes up, usually inher own car, with evidence of sexual assault and tests positive forRohypnol.”
“Date rape drug.Fuckingbastard.”
“Yeah.It gets worse.Hecuts her.Deep enough to leave a scar, not so deep she’ll bleedout.”Sawyer paused.“He cut every one of them across her belly,spells out ‘whore.’That’s being kept out of the newsreports.”
Walker went on alert.“That’s sickshit.You thinking there’s a similarity with Melanie?”
“Melanie’s attacker didn’tcarve her up, but he had a knife and threatened to brand her withit using that particular word.Could be the fucker has developed atechnique.Or it could be we’re spitting into the wind and there’sno connection.”
“Mel was grabbed in apark.”
“True.There areinconsistencies.If it is the same fucker, he took a long breakbefore starting up again about eighteen months ago.”
“Could be he moved awayand now he’s back.Hell, he could’ve been in prison and gotten outa year and a half ago.You check the national database for similarcrimes?”
“Nothing pinged, thoughI’m still looking.If this has anything to do with what happened toMelanie, this time the fucker is keeping it out of Sisters.Couldbe that’s intentional.”
“Like maybe he doesn’twant to shit in his own pool.”
“Yeah, either that, orhe’s saving this town for his grand finale.”
CHAPTER NINE
Walker turned onto the highway, theback of his truck heavy with the load he’d picked up from thelumberyard.Seemed like every damn place he went in town waspeppered with land mines and he had to watch his step.Damned if heknew what to expect from the people he’d grown up with.
The other day he’d walked into EasyMoney looking for a drink, and maybe take stock of what’d changed,what’d stayed the same.The buildings downtown still looked likethey’d been designed for a movie set for westerns, except thesewere the real deal.
It was the people he didn’t know howto deal with.With few exceptions, the people of Sisters hadn’tstood up for him.Then again, he’d been wild in his late teens andhadn’t given much reason for people to stand for him.Most had beenwilling to believe the seemingly irrefutable evidence against him,and given people didn’t like changing their minds much once they’remade up, he didn’t expect having his record cleared would make muchof a difference.
Prison was a stain, and having allcharges against him dismissed did nothing but bleach it alittle.
Laney had been one of thoseexceptions.She’d believed in him, and he’d treated her like shit.Despite it, and the time that’d passed, she’d been pissed on hisbehalf when he’d walked into Easy Money and no one acknowledgedhim.Which hadn’t bothered him overmuch.People would eventuallyget used to him again, but it hadn’t set well with her.
She’d always been quick with heremotions and didn’t mind showing what she was feeling.She wasn’tone to let it pass when folks had looked through him like he’d beena ghost.
He’d caught sight of her crossing theroom, head high, giving a big fuck you to everyone sitting in thebar.He’d spent the better part of a decade trying to forget howshe tasted, but one kiss and he was pulled back to the best summerof his life.A time that’d been sweet and full of promise.Hecouldn’t go back there, and wouldn’t pull Laney into plans thatcould go to hell with one wrong move.But that kiss had rocked hisworld, and following the one he’d laid on her, he was fighting theurge to take up where they’d left off all those yearsago.
Not that she’d considertaking up with him again, but holy shit,that kiss.
He steered off the highway onto MillCreek Road, keeping to the speed limit.He hadn’t expected to takeso many hits to the heart when he’d come home.
Walking through Sisters Hardware,which had been in business since forever and sold everything frompet food to lamp shades, he’d run into people he’d known and foundtheir reactions to him ran the gamut.Some looked away like theyhadn’t seen him, some gave a nod and walked on.But there were afew who took the time to stop and talk, mostly to expresscondolences over his grandfather’s death.
Mrs.Mercado, his eighth-grade Englishteacher, had stunned him.She’d pulled him into a big hug, and asshe always had, got straight to the point.Hands on his shoulders,she’d given him a fierce look, her dark eyes gleaming.“You donewith your travels?”
“Yes, ma’am.”
“You home tostay?”
