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He studied her, then nodded and hit the key to open his photos Despite her words of assurance, Katie wasn’t really ready for what she saw

The scene The scene of Tanzler and Elena she kneell fro up in Key West was familiar and yet horrible

But there was Tanzler

And there was a woman in Elena’s place on her bed who had lived and breathed at a different time Elena had died of tuberculosis, the woh Katie had never known her, she knew her

She had seen her reflection in the bathrooe tear form in her eye, and trail down her cheek

Stella Martin had not been a great beauty In death, she was like a caricature of Elena

"Just like Tanya, and yet…" David ?"

He shook his head "I think the same person killed Tanya and this woman," he said "She is not laid out as carefully as Tanya had been There’s so rushed about the display And Stella was older and not as beautiful as Tanya There’s soarish about Stella I think she was a handy victim I think the killer wanted her displayed because I’m here, because Sam is here Why else would the killer wait all of this ti else makes sense"

"What else makes you think it’s not a copycat?" Katie asked

David enlarged the picture, showing her the face "Petechia," he said "It’s a he Look, you can see the bruises on the neck But there’s more-ht bruises…not even bruises, really But the blue-and-gray ses on the nose…and there, on the chin"

Katie narrowed her eyes She saw the little marks

"What do you think they are?" she asked him

"I think they’re fro so over their heads They don’t see him until the last minute He comes from behind, puts the plastic over their heads While they’re desperately gasping for breath already, he strangles them"

"So they really don’t knoho their killer is," Katie murmured

"He steals their breath away so quickly, they can’t even fight," David said thoughtfully

Katie looked away She didn’t want to see her ghost, the woutsy in her oay, dead in a tableau

David left theat his watch He frowned "You don’t work tonight?"

"Not tonight, though Uncle Ja karaoke all week next week for Fantasy Fest," Katie told hi forward to my days off here"

He was a few feet away He nodded, and she was hoping, without being overt, that he ether, froo," he told her

"Where are you going?" she asked

"The strip club"

"I’ll go with you," she said

"No, it’s-it’s a strip club"

She offered hiotten Men and woether"

He shook his head "Katie, trustI really need to do alone"

"David-Stella was discovered today People in there…"

"They ht be cruel to me? Treat me like a murderer?" he asked He shook his head "That’s why Ion the street today I’m old hat, and sadly, she was a prostitute, and half the people out there assume that it’s soht her shoulders and looked into her eyes She stared back at hi hard, and she wondered how she could possibly feel so strongly about hio she had barely known hiana You’re the one who told me about her, remember?"

She nodded Great, she had told him about a stripper

"Wait for me, please?" he asked huskily

"Sure," she told hioodbye-for-now kiss

But his hands lingered on her shoulders "Katie, I…"

"Yes?"

"Thank you," he said "Thank you for believing me"

"You can’t really thank me for that," she told him "It’s the way I feel, it’s…intuition Whatever, it’s not so we really choose We believe or we don’t"

He s through her, and she wanted to hold on to hi him to stay with her