“Easy.” The whisper was so soft she might have imagined it. The shifter’s voice. Barely breathing in her ear.
She drew in a ragged gasp of air at the sound, drawing the cold oxygen deep into her lungs. Control. She couldn’t shatter in front of them. They were cops.
Cops who were suspecting her of—what? Assault? Murder?
If she put up a fight, and used her power, she’d never be safe in Atlanta again. She’d have to run, and she wouldn’t be able to stop running for a long, long time.
She wasn’t the type to run. Never had been.
Her chin lifted as she made her decision. “I’ll do it the easy way.”
Brooks’s lips began to curl.
“For now.”
That wiped the smug smile right off his handsome face.
After she shoved on her shoes, they led her outside, into a starless night.
What would happen at the station? The thought flew through her mind, followed instantly by another, darker worry, one that had her mouth drying. What’s happened to Michael? She hadn’t seen her ex-lover in months, and now, Cara feared she might not ever see him—alive—again.
Chapter 2
She didn’t look like a killer. Her blue eyes were too clear. Her skin too soft.
She smelled of sex and embodied the best wet dream of his life.
But she didn’t look like a killer.
Which meant she probably was.
Brooks watched Cara through the two-way mirror. She sat in the interrogation room, legs crossed, fingers idly tapping on the wooden table. She’d been in there for over thirty minutes now. Alone. Every few moments, a ripple of anger or impatience would appear on her face, then disappear seconds later as her cool mask slipped seamlessly back into place.
Cara Maloan was even better looking than her picture had suggested. In fact, the woman was truly damn near perfect. Hell, yes, he could all too easily imagine her being able to lure those poor ass**les to their deaths.
He’d never seen a woman more sexual. Even in the loose jogging pants and tank top she wore, there was no disguising her appeal.
The minute the door of her house had swung open, he’d realized an important fact. He wanted her.
Then he’d caught a whiff of her scent. Jesus Christ. He’d never smelled anything so good. Rich, like a woman’s sensual cream, but sweet, like flowers or champagne. A combination that had blasted straight to his cock.
He hadn’t just wanted her then. He’d hungered for her.
And the lady was probably a killer.
Damn if he didn’t just have the shit-poorest luck in the world. Or at least, that was what his father would have told him, rest the old bastard’s soul.
Todd exhaled and wondered for a minute what his dad would have thought of this case. Of Cara.
His dad. Tough and twisted sonofabitch that he’d been.
Todd had never meant to follow in his footsteps, but fate sometimes had a way of screwing up the best plans that a guy could make.
The door behind him opened with a squeak. He glanced over his shoulder, found his partner watching him with an inscrutable stare.
“You got the photos?” Todd asked.
Colin lifted the manila file.
Todd turned back to the glass, gazed once more at Cara. “It’s a real crying shame that a woman like her is a murderer.” Because he was still hard for her. Could still smell her.
“We…should be very careful with her.”
There was a hesitancy in Colin’s voice that made the hair on Todd’s neck rise. Stepping away from the observation window, he turned to fully face his partner. “What do you know?” Colin had held out on him during their last major case. The knowledge still stuck in Todd’s throat, and he wasn’t going to sit around and let the same shit happen again.
Colin’s stare darted to the woman. “I know she’s dangerous.”
A hard laugh broke from his lips. “Yeah, well, so do those poor bastards she killed.” And he knew it, too, but that fact didn’t stop the wanting. What the hell was wrong with him? He’d never been attracted to a suspect before.
Then again, he’d never had a suspect like her before.
“Something’s off with her,” Colin said.
Now he snorted. Yeah, Colin was sure one to talk about something being off. “Well, that’s ’cause she could be a female serial, and we both know that breed is rare.” He remembered a report he’d read back in the academy. Female serials accounted for only 8 percent of all the serial murders. The other 92 percent of the kills were by men.
But women were also said to be a hell of a lot more methodical and precise about their killing. A hell of a lot more careful with their crimes.
Maybe there were more female serials out there than the guys in the suits thought. Could be those women were just too damn good at covering their tracks.
Todd rubbed the bridge of his nose. “I think we might need to bring the doc in on this one.”
Colin stiffened.
The “doc” in question was actually Colin’s current lover, Dr. Emily Drake. She was a well-known psychologist in Atlanta, and the department had recently begun using her as a profiler.
Yeah, it would be a good idea to bring her in and see what she thought of their killer.
Colin’s gaze was still on the woman. “Yes,” he said softly, “maybe we should.”
But first…Todd reached for the file. “I wanna see how she reacts to these pictures, and then we need to get started on a photo lineup.” They’d taken Cara’s photo shortly after she arrived. They’d add it to some more images, show the pics to the desk clerk.
His partner nodded. “Already got a call in to the team.” He sighed. “But I’ll tell you now, man, I don’t think that guy will be able to ID her. Even if the man hadn’t been spending all his time staring at her chest, he reeked of booze.”
He’d noticed the heavy odor, too. “Right now, there’s not much choice for us.”
“I know.” Colin sounded as disgusted as he felt, and for a moment, it was almost like the old days, before the brutal case that had blasted them apart and sent Todd’s world spinning.
Todd’s fingers tightened around the folder. “The uniforms will still bring him in. Who knows? Maybe we’ll get lucky.”
“Maybe.”
In the meantime, “Let’s find out just what else our lady has to say about Michael House.” Because she knew the victim. He’d caught her slip, just as Colin had. Todd was going to make absolutely certain he learned all the secrets Cara was hiding.