“Please, let me go. Whatever—” She gasped, her mouth sucking in air as she noticed that he held something shiny in his right hand.
A meat cleaver!
Sheer terror claimed her at that moment, body and soul. Her stomach churned. Sweat dampened her face. The loud rat-a-tat-tat of her accelerated heartbeat thundered in her ears.
He reached down with his left hand and fingered her long, dark hair. “If only you were a blonde or a redhead.”
Jennifer swallowed hard. He’s going to kill me. He’s going to kill me with that meat cleaver. He’ll chop me up in little pieces…
She whimpered. Oh, Judd, why didn’t I listen to you? Why did I come here alone tonight?
“Are you afraid?” John Farris asked.
“Yes.”
“You should be,” he told her.
“You’re going to kill me, aren’t you?”
He laughed again. Softly.
“Please…please…” She cried. Tears filled her eyes and trickled down her cheeks.
He came closer. And closer. He raised the meat cleaver high over her head, then swung it across her right wrist.
Blood splattered on the cabinet, over her head, and across her upper body as her severed right hand tumbled downward and hit the floor.
Pain! Excruciating pain.
And then he lifted the cleaver and swung down and across again, cutting off her left hand with one swift, accurate blow.
Jennifer passed out.
New York Times bestselling authors
Lisa Jackson, Beverly Barton, and Wendy Corsi Staub
join forces to create a thrilling novel
about love, revenge, and the dark secrets
three women hold to a terrifying murder…
A KILLER WHO GETS AWAY WITH MURDER ONCE…
It’s been twenty years since Jake Marcott was brutally murdered at the St. Elizabeth’s High School Valentine’s Day dance. It’s a night that shattered the lives of three girls in Jake’s life—Lindsay Farrell, Kristen Daniels, and Rachel Alsace. It’s a night they’ll never forget. A killer will make sure of that…
FINDS IT EASIER TO KILL AGAIN…
A 20-year reunion has been scheduled for St. Elizabeth’s. For some alumni, very special invitations have been sent: their smiling senior pictures slashed by an angry red line…
AND AGAIN…AND AGAIN…
Three women have been marked for death. Tonight, as the music plays, and the doors of St. Elizabeth are sealed, a killer will finish what was started long ago, and the sins of the past will be paid for in blood…
Look for
MOST LIKELY TO DIE
coming in February 2007!
ZEBRA BOOKS are published by
Kensington Publishing Corp.
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Copyright © 2006 by Beverly Beaver
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any means without the prior written consent of the Publisher, excepting brief quotes used in reviews.
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ISBN 1-4201-0031-9
Close Enough to Kill Page 40
