***
“I don’t have any place to stay.” Claire sat on the couch in the penthouse, her fingers twisted in front of her. Discarded tissues formed a pile around her. “I was supposed to be moving in with Sara. I-I just got into town a few hours early. She was going to help me find a job here.” A silent tear tracked down her cheek. “She can’t do that anymore.” Her voice was hoarse. “Sara can’t do anything now.”
“You can stay here tonight,” Skye said immediately. “There is plenty of room in this place.”
But Claire glanced around the penthouse, fear flashing in her gaze. “I can’t.” Whispered. “I just…can’t.”
Skye frowned at her. “We have an extra bedroom.” Four of them. “You’ll be safe here.”
Claire shook her head. “I don’t really…I’ve heard stories about Mr. Weston—”
“Trace?”
“He scares me. I used to ask Sara if he scared her.” Her lips twisted into a sad smile. “She said, ‘Every day. But that’s half the fun.’” Claire laughed then, and the sound was heavy with tears. “But Sara was lying to me, you see. I don’t think she was ever really afraid of anything. She isn’t like me.” Claire’s shoulders hunched.
Skye gazed at her, her heart aching. There was something about Claire that reminded her…
Of me.
“I’ll get a hotel. It’ll be fine.” Claire stood up. Squared her shoulders. “I don’t need—”
“There’s an apartment over my dance studio,” Skye said, rising with her. “You can stay there. No one will bother you.”
Claire’s lips trembled. “Th-thank you.” Then she paused. “I…know about what happened to you.”
At this point, Skye was sure most of the world did. She lifted her chin. “I didn’t—”
“Surviving is hard, isn’t it? But at least you know he’s not out there anymore, watching you.” Claire licked her lips. “That part is the scariest.”
Skye felt her heartbeat race. She’s speaking from experience.
“Never knowing…it’s the hardest.” Claire’s eyes squeezed shut, then she whispered, “It’s my fault that Sara is dead.”
“What?” Skye shook her head and then realized that Claire couldn’t see the move. “No, no, it isn’t.”
Claire’s body trembled. “He killed my parents, and he killed her, too.”
“Claire.” Skye snapped out her name. “What are you talking about?”
“My lover,” she said as her eyes opened. “My one and only. He said I was his forever, and he’s made sure that I am.”
Goosebumps rose on Skye’s arms.
I see me in her. The same fear. The terror that lurked in Claire’s eyes.
“I thought I’d escaped, just like you had. But I didn’t.” More tears slid down Claire’s cheeks. “And Sara is dead.”
“It wasn’t because of you.” Skye wanted to shake the other woman. So she did. Hard.
Claire blinked at her.
“I don’t know what happened to your parents or what happened to you, but Sara’s death isn’t on you.” Skye sucked in a sharp breath. “Someone is killing in this city. This is his third attack. The crimes are all the same. The victims are all—” Skye broke off, not wanting to reveal the gory details to Claire.
“Th-third attack?”
“Two men were killed before Sara.”
“You’re sure it’s the same killer?”
“Yes.” Because the killer was from Trace’s past.
“Why? Why would he go after my sister?”
“We think…” It was so hard to say this as she stared into those tear-filled eyes. “We think the killer was using her in order to get at Trace. And after he’d gotten what he needed from Sara…”
“He killed my sister.” Hollow words. Words that matched the look in Claire’s eyes.
Skye nodded. Claire deserved the truth, and she was determined to give it to her.
One survivor to another.
“I need to see her,” Claire said. “Please…”
The body had been transferred down to the coroner’s office hours before. Skye knew the ME wouldn’t be finished with the exam, not yet.
“I need to do it. I’m all that Sara has.”
“I’ll call Alex.” The detective might be able to arrange something for them.
At least Claire wouldn’t be seeing her sister’s body, soaked in blood. They could get the ME to only show her face to Claire. They could do something.
Because if they didn’t, Skye was worried that Claire might just break apart.
***
When his phone rang, Trace snatched it up immediately. “Reese? What’s happening?” Reese had orders to stick close to Skye. She was not going to end up like Sara.
“Uh, boss, they’re heading to the ME’s office. Skye and Sara’s sister.”
The ME’s office.
“Just thought you should know.”
“I’m on my way.” He stood. “Noah, start checking your personnel. I’ve already got a team backtracking through the last few weeks of Sara’s life. Someone saw the guy. Somewhere, sometime.” They just had to talk to the right person. The one who remembered the SOB.
Noah nodded and walked to the door with him. “Where are you going?”
“To see the dead.”
***
“I should come in with you,” Reese said as they stood in front of the police station. “I can help.”
Claire wouldn’t look straight at Reese. Skye had noticed that Claire also stiffened her body whenever Reese got too close to her.
“Alex is waiting for us inside.” Skye gave Reese a wan smile. “But thank you.”
He nodded. His gaze drifted to Claire. “I’m sorry about your sister. Sara was a good woman. She didn’t deserve an end like that.”
Claire pulled in a rough breath. “Thank you.”
They hurried inside. The steps they climbed seemed huge, but then they were past the swinging glass doors and in the lobby of the Chicago PD. The Medical Examiner’s office was located just behind the PD, but in order to gain access, they had to make sure they had Alex with them.
Skye signed in, then asked to be directed to Detective Alex Griffin’s desk.