Page 3 (1/1)

Marty had thought she’d already drop-kicked To over on Marian Avenue No loss, the jerk The fact is, he’d believed she was alone Where was Tommy’s car? Marty didn’t like this, didn’t like it at all He had to be more careful

Whatever, boot the jerk out, princess Get your beautiful self back into bed and into dreaht’s sleep

Marty eased back toward the front of the house and hid hi patiently for To out the front door, when he heard aslow, as if the driver was looking for an address At this hour? What rong with people? Even in Las Vegas regular people slept at night It was only delusional brainless yahoos flying in here froht

The motorcycle stopped in front of the house, idled What was this crap? Had Tommy called a friend to pick hi on Marty’s turf? Nah, another thief wouldn’t be cruising around on a loud-asshis tiet in, lay a chloroform mask over his princess’s nose, watch her snap awake, then breathe in and pass out, three seconds, tops He’d find that bracelet and get out with no one the wiser, but no, he couldn’t catch a break First a boyfriend and now this uy? He heard the front door sla was all right Tommy climbed aboard and the motorcycle revved and rocketed down the street Noa helive her another twenty minutes at least If she was er to cal, and now there was only the sounds of crickets, a coyote in the distance, but nothing else except a light desert breeze

Finally Marty pulled the glass cutter out of his pocket and walked quietly toward the second-bedroo real quiet, like so around who didn’t want to be heard No, impossible, it couldn’t have come from the princess’s house She was alone But his heart still pounded Maybe he was getting too old for the business He waited, the glass cutter poised in his hand

Marty pressed the button on the side of his watch, lit up the face Nineby being stupid He waited another fivewas as it should be The neighbors were all tucked in, pets snoozing, To beer

Marty carefully carved a sently lifted it out with tape, and stuck his hand through the opening to unlock theHe hoisted himself up and carefully eased inside the second bedroo the small desk, the laptop, a chair He quietly closed the , no sense taking a chance that a sudden noise outside would awaken her He stood a , then pulled out the cloth wrapped around a small bottle of chloroforood He walked silently to the door, opened it, looked out into the darkened hallway There wasn’t a sound, not even an air conditioner, and that was good, it meant the princess was fast asleep Would she have the bracelet on the nightstand next to her? That would h, Marty had learned early on that so that easy happened maybe once in a decade

He crept toward her bedrooainst the wood floor The bedrooe of the door

And nearly fainted He ure bending over his princess sensed his presence, turned, and Marty saw his face in the shaft ofgoggles smeared with blood and had a bloody knife in his hand As the man jerked away from the bed, Marty saw his princess covered with blood, saw her head bent at an i from her neck, all in a millisecond And he could smell the blood, thick and hot and coppery Marty ran back down the hall, threw a bookshelf down behind hi the wood floor in the hall behind him as he ran back into the small office Marty dove out the closedheadfirst, cutting his hand on his way through, but he didn’t slow He rolled to his feet, clutched his hand to his chest, and ran to where his car was parked three streets away Only when he was driving away did he look back He didn’t see anyone Had the man seen his face? Would he be able to find hi from his run and from stark terror He’d never been so afraid in his life He felt the pain in his cut hand only then, smelled his own blood, only not nearly as thick and fetid as the smell in the princess’s bedroom

It wasn’t until later, after his hand had been stitched in the ER across town, and he was cruising on e at what the monster had done He’d stuck that knife into the princess--his princess--he’d slit her throat And then he’d come after Marty

3

CRIMINAL APPREHENSION UNIT

HOOVER BUILDING

WASHINGTON, DC

MONDAY MORNING

FBI Special Agent Dillon Savich looked up at the light tap on his open door to see Special Agent Ca ready to jump out of her skin What had her boss, Crian, told her? Savich waved her in Before he tapped the key that darkened MAX’s corisly murder scene photo He said matter-of-factly, "That’s one of the crime scenes from a particularly nasty set of tourist murders in Bar Harbor, Maine People expect to enjoy theet knifed to death in their motel rooms

"Five dead as of yesterday The police chief called h of that Coent Wittier Sit down"

Cas, and sht was as sexy as a Wild West sheriff at high noon She’d pictured how he’d lookyellow duster and a pair of black boots with spurs, of course, when she’d first iven at Quantico It was a bu partner, and had to stay a fantasy, a no-go forever Life, Ca at Dillon Savich, was out of sync for her