“What’s in it for you?” she asked, eyes narrowing suspiciously.
For an instant, his expression hardened but just as quickly he was smiling benignly, replying, “Why, nothing, of course. I’m just trying to help.”
“You say you’d be helping me with my jealousy. I think you’d be feeding it,” she answered dryly.
“No, no,” he adamantly shook his head. She listened more out of curiosity than any actual interest in taking his advice. “No, it wouldn’t. It would bring you two closer. It would help you find common ground. She’d be more compassionate toward you.”
“I don’t need her pity!” she hissed.
He patted her hand, reassuring her that he in no way thought she did. He would have to tread carefully or he would lose her. He needed her if he was going to do what he had planned. “I know that. Again, I’m only trying to help you. All I’m saying is that I believe it could be a bonding experience for the two of you. You deserve to have fulfilling relationships, too. Everyone deserves to be loved.”
She looked at him and bit her lip. Bingo! He had her now.
“But don’t you care that people might think you’re the Mummy Man?” Suddenly her eyes widened in horror. “Wait, you’re not, are you!?”
His head whipped back in laughter until he had tears in his eyes. As he dabbed at his eyes with his cocktail napkin, he assured her, “Of course not. I’m just trying to make people more aware of how careful they need to be. This could actually help the authorities catch that terrible, awful man.”
“How?” she tilted her head, sincerely wondering if she could be part of doing something good.
“When the Mummy Man finds out someone’s impersonating him, he’ll be angry. When people get angry they make mistakes.”
It couldn’t hurt. Suddenly the jealousy was on the backburner and the thought of solving a puzzle that would save the city was appealing to her.
It had been easy enough to pull off, her staged abduction the other night. Of course, he’d taken things way too far and she was glad she’d gotten away from him. But since then there had been more murders. She couldn’t help but wonder if Brian had something to do with them. It was as if something had angered the killer and now he was taking out his wrath on the city.
Her thoughts would be a rambling mass of chaos for the rest of the night and there would be no sleep. She knew sleep would continue to elude her until she dealt with the issues at hand and made amends. Maybe the truth really could set you free, but at what cost?
Chapter Forty Three
Agent Turner resisted the urge to kick futilely at the dirt when he exited the black SUV. There was nothing that screamed FBI Investigation! like a bunch of black SUVs barreling down the street in a uniformed procession. Along the way, somebody had even yelled out from the sidewalk, “Hey, has there been another killing?”
They pulled up to the standard crime scene: red lights, blue lights, white vans, and a cordoned off square of property where the body was. He resisted the urge to kick at the ground beneath his feet again. It never got easy violating dead bodies. It sounded harsh, the word violate, but it was how he saw it.
All victims deserved the utmost of respect, but inevitably would be poked, prodded, and cut open. Their clothing would be removed and every inch of their body examined. He’d slammed one ME into the wall when he’d made a crude remark about a dead woman’s anatomy years ago. The man was still scared of him, but he never disrespected a corpse in front of Agent David Turner again.
Rene had never told him, but when she saw him slam that bastard against the wall she had fallen in love with her partner all over again. Even though the badass part of it had been a turn-on, his respect for the dead impressed her the most. These people still mattered.
“Hey, agents.” A member of the Louisville PD strode in their direction, nervously straightening his hat. “I kept everything the way it was, didn’t touch nuthin’. Body’s over here,” he pointed over his shoulder, rapidly walking in the direction of the small cordoned-off area. Both agents knew he was a rookie and eager to please. It worked for them. Better than a seasoned one trying to solve the case and fucking up their crime scene.
The agents put gloves on as they followed him. There was no rush now. Sadly, the victim’s days of having anywhere to go were over.
Both agents knelt down to study the body, frowning at the bits of shredded gauze on the ground where the wrapping appeared to have been torn away. Rene gently explored the body’s exposed fingers, noting, “Her nails are done, but not overly done. Nothing fancy. Neutral polish. She kept them short. Tasteful.”
“This one’s different. I’m thinking maybe a suburban housewife this time around. Definitely not another hooker.”
“No wedding ring,” Rene observed.
“She has a tan line there, though. Either she’s in the middle of a divorce or our guy took it as a trophy.”
“Yeah, I heard they all like ‘em.”
“Excuse me?” Agent Turner scowled at the officer, who was now two inches from his face and excitedly nodding his head up and down like a bobblehead. The officer was clearly too excited about his first big crime scene to realize he was invading anyone’s personal space or pushing the limits of crime scene protocol.
“They do,” Rene agreed. “They like to go back in their mind and relive the victim’s final moments.”
The officer gave Rene his full attention, listening for anything that could teach him how to solve a big crime someday. He eagerly bounced his head up and down while her partner scowled.
Turner closed his eyes and slowly shook his head. He pulled back the flap of gauze at the victim’s neck. “The gauze has been disturbed. Animals may have gotten to her before she was found. Look at this, here at her neck. The ME will need to confirm this, of course, but it looks like he strangled her with his bare hands.”
This time when he shook his head it was in compassion for a woman who’d had a life to live and probably had a family that was going to miss her.
“What about sexual assault?” Rene asked.
“We won’t know until the ME is finished with the examination, but, um,” the officer gulped, then continued, “the way this Mummy guy wraps his victims usually allows for it. And as you can see…” He cleared his throat and gestured awkwardly at the hole in the gauze at the apex of the victim’s tightly wrapped thighs. The hole allowed for vaginal penetration if someone was determined enough. The traces of blood visible on the edges of the fabric told the victim’s horrifying story.
“Did the DNA from the last one get a hit in the database?” Turner asked, knowing the answer would be no. If there had been a match, he would have gotten the call long before now.
“No. We’ve got it for comparison when we do make an arrest, but whoever this is just isn’t in the database.”
Rene chimed in, “So this is either a new hobby, or he’s just really good at not getting caught.”
“Pretty much.” Turner had to admit to being surprised. This guy treated the bodies like his own personal cum dump, but it did them no good because he hadn’t had any run-ins with law enforcement that would have gotten his DNA registered…yet.
They stepped aside as the ME arrived on the scene and took over custody of the body. A strange silence reigned while his assistant took photos and the grim-faced ME did his initial work.
Sometime later, as two ME staffers shifted the body in preparation for transferring it into a body bag, the ME lowered down to a knee to examine the underside of things. Holding up a hand, he gestured for the body to be held in place. Another long silence ensued, then he shook his head in disgust, stood, and gestured for the body to be sealed in the bag for the ride to the morgue.
As the ME’s assistant scurried over to confer with his boss, the rookie officer strolled by, slowing his footsteps while he listened. When the caravan of vehicles finally pulled away from the scene with the body safely ensconced inside the lead vehicle, he hurried back to Turner and Rene, eyes w
ide.
“What was that about?” Rene asked the officer, whose chest puffed importantly as he prepared to impart information that no one else had.
“Well, he said the wrapping was disturbed at her, um, behind too. Like, he did her anally too.”
Rene’s lips tightened with displeasure as her features became arctic. “He…did…her.”
“Well, no. I mean, yes. I mean, he, well….he raped her. Anally, that is. ‘A bloody mess’, he called it. But not free-flowing blood. It looked like the attack was, um, post-mortem. She was already dead when he…did that part. He said the killer had to have been at it a long time to make such a mess.”
“Necrophilia. Great.” Rene exhaled harshly and reached up to squeeze the bridge of her nose.
The officer’s eyes were glued on Rene, hoping for, if not her approval, then a kernel of wisdom that would make him a better cop later on. He was new, eager, and had big dreams for his career. All rookies were. It would take years for the layers of idealistic thinking to be worn away by the cruel reality of the streets.
Agent Turner left Rene to wrap things up with the rookie cop. He stepped aside to the edge of the road. With his arms crossed over his chest, he watched the progress of the taillights of the ME’s caravan as it made its way downtown.
The fucker was escalating, and he’d continue to rachet up his efforts until he was stopped. Stopped dead in his tracks, quite literally. The U.S. government had ingrained in Turner a deep and abiding reverence for the checks and balances of the Justice system: you let the process run its course; everyone deserved their day in court. His lips curled into a silent snarl. Not this one. He was going to fix this.
This victim had been brutally violated before and after she was suffocated. Having witnessed countless autopsies, Turner knew her ordeal of being violated was only just beginning. Feeling Rene’s concerned gaze on his back, he slid his hands onto his hips and hung his head as he sent up silent words of regret to a suburban housewife who was beyond worrying about such things anymore.
Chapter Forty Four
Teegan had never experienced a man like Thomas before. There was something primal about him. That unpredictable quality scared her and turned her on. She was learning that fear could be quite an aphrodisiac, especially during moments like this.
“I said, keep your fucking arms up.” Thomas had her against the wall and had her hands above her head in a firm one-handed grip. His free hand was busy sliding up her inner thigh and down the front of her silky G-string.
“You’re breathing hard,” he whispered in her ear as he stroked her clit, then adjusted his position to fingerfuck her tight pussy. As the erotic sensations climbed higher, her breathing became raspy, her ragged moans filling the silence. He grinned against her neck as he gathered her creamy wetness on his finger and, with no warning, moved his hand deeper between her legs and thrust his finger into her asshole, rough and deep.
Teegan gasped and cried out at the unexpected intrusion. Thomas grunted, “Trust me,” and added a second finger before he began to fingerfuck her ass in earnest. Teegan frowned and exhaled loudly as she struggled to come to grips with the onslaught of unfamiliar but not entirely unpleasant sensations while at her husband’s mercy. The man could accomplish more with his hands than most men could with their cocks.
“You like it, don’t you?” he muttered in her ear. “My dirty little girl who does so many nasty things with me that she’s never done before. You like my finger in your ass, don’t you?”
“Yes! I love it!” she groaned helplessly as he knelt in front of her and ripped her G-string away. With his two fingers still deep in her ass, he slid his thumb inside her pussy and clutched at her intimate flesh so hard that she gasped. With her core at the mercy of his jarringly primal grip, he crushed his mouth against her pussy.
“Tell me,” he said, his voice muffled as he devoured her clit. “Tell me how much you like it.”
“I love your finger in my ass! I love it when you eat me out. Fucking eat me, don’t stop, don’t ever stop”—
It was true. She loved everything he did to her, the way he explored her body without restraint. Nothing was off limits between the two of them. Thomas took her to places she’d never been before. Any inhibitions she’d ever had were being stripped away by her husband and lover. She cried out, arching her back and biting her bottom lip as the first shuddering wave of the orgasm slammed into her.
He didn’t give her time to recuperate as he tossed her onto the bed. He had her on all fours with her ass high in the air. He yanked off his shirt and unfastened his pants, letting them drop to the floor. He was hungry and she was the main course. His fingers dug into her hips as he slid his cock into her pussy, slowly at first, before piledriving deep inside until his hips were pressed firmly against her ass.
It was never the same. Sometimes they made love and other times they fucked like animals. But one thing never changed: it was always intense. Thomas Wentworth’s dark sexual energy touched her on every level.
“Please, please, baby,” she begged as his excruciatingly slow rhythm fed her hunger to a fever pitch. When she pushed back against his cock, he smacked her ass and laughed wickedly.
“Oh, you want to get fucked hard, huh? You want it rough? You want it dirty?” He grabbed the back of her hair, twisting his fist in it and jerking her head back so he could growl the words in her ear.
“You’re mine now, body and soul. I’ll always be watching you. Don’t ever underestimate me, Teegan. It will be your undoing.”
He settled in for a long, hard fuck, pounding into her at a punishing pace. His whispered taunts and threats mingled with her agonized pleas for more, until she was drained of all conscious thought and wailed incoherently as the orgasm sent her hurtling into pleasurable oblivion.
As she slowly regained her mental faculties, she became aware of his hands clenching her hips, his relentless thrusts as he chased his own release. As his pace grew impossibly faster and harder, his voice wafted in and out of her blissful mind.
“That’s it, baby girl. Clamp down on my fucking cock and milk it dry. That’s all for you. Unh, fuck me. Oh, fuck, it’s so good,” he groaned as his body abruptly froze in place. He leaned his head back on a harsh exhale as he white-knuckled her hips and released pulsing jets of cum deep inside her body.
Teegan’s limbs gave way and she collapsed onto the bed with him following her down, both deliciously spent and barely able to move. Eventually, Thomas picked her up and gently moved her to the center of the bed. Later on, they would shower. Right now, he just wanted to hold his woman. He lazily drew little circles on her arm as she spooned in front of him.
“It feels good to finally be part of something, Thomas.”
He pressed a lazy kiss to her temple and sighed against her skin. “I know what you mean. It feels good to be part of you. Was I too rough?” he asked with some trepidation. He had gone at it pretty hard and didn’t want her to have any doubts about being with him.
“No. I loved it.”
“It feels good to have a woman I can trust.” They lay in silence for a long time, then, “I love you, Teegan.” He could feel her smile as she used his arm for a pillow.
“I love you, too, Thomas. So much.”
Chapter Forty Five
Queen Bee glanced around at the luscious leather interior of her new cream-colored Cadillac—a gift from her man. Her man. The two words overwhelmed her. She slid her fingertips along the supple leather of the car’s upholstery, smiling at the simple truth that she could ditch the car tomorrow and not miss it. But Terry Ransom belonged to her and she couldn’t imagine life without him.
He truly was her knight in shining armor. He had swept her off her feet and straight into his arms. Just that morning, he had assured her that although she hadn’t been what he’d expected, one look in her eyes and he’d known that she was everything he’d ever wanted.
In the short time that they had known each other, her life had become a beaut
iful dream. They were getting married. Terry was insisting on paying for her sex reassignment surgery. She was convinced that anything was possible as long as they were together. It was almost too good to be true.
That’s why she had been concerned when Terry asked her to meet him for coffee. Something in his voice had been unsettling. She glanced in the rearview mirror to change lanes. She didn’t notice the rented blue Nova three cars behind her changing lanes too, and she certainly didn’t notice Brian Reed behind the wheel.
She exited the expressway and pulled up to the little coffee shop, where she parked her car and touched up her lipstick. A girl couldn’t be too careful when it came to looking good for her man.
Several customers in the coffee shop did doubletakes as the tall beautiful woman strolled through the door. She grinned to herself and flipped a long strand of lustrous blonde hair over her shoulder. They had no idea she was transgender. Soon enough her transformation would be complete. She would finally feel whole. And sitting at a corner table was the man who was going to make it all happen.
“Darling.” Terry rose, kissing her on both cheeks before whispering in her ear, “You look ravishing. How did I get so lucky?”
“I’m sorry I’m late, dear,” she said with a playful pout. “Traffic was dreadful.”
“You’re worth the wait. For you…I would wait an eternity. I hope you don’t mind, but I took the liberty of ordering for you.”
Simple gestures like that made her feel like the luckiest girl in the world. He treated her exactly like what her name implied: a queen. “Of course I don’t mind. You know I love that sort of thing. It’s sweet. But you sounded troubled on the phone, darling. Is everything okay?”
He reached for her hand and looked into her eyes. “It’s probably just me being a fool, but…”
Mommy's Dearest (Black Rose Book 3) Page 15
