Anatomy (7 page)

Nicole and her partner must have figured out by now that Roy
had escaped using the Prohibition-era tunnels running from the barn to the
house, right? Although the two detectives had not been too quick on the draw so
far.

Roy, on the other hand? He was all too quick, pulling the
trocar out of the splintered wood, getting ready for another blow. Kent pushed
another chair out of the way and tried to make for the kitchen door, but Roy
had anticipated the move. More than likely, a few of his earlier victims had
tried that play.

This kitchen was its own little battleground —one in which
Roy had the home court advantage. Kent changed course abruptly, spinning on his
heel, grabbing for the freezer handle. Roy couldn’t correct in time, and he
slammed the stainless steel instrument into the open freezer door.

Containers of cousin fell from the freezer, covering the
floor like human ice cubes.

“Did you mean to kill him?” Kent asked, trying to distract
Roy from the fact that Kent was unarmed. Roy didn’t seem like the talkative
type though. Instead, the man lunged again, only this time his foot hit a slick
spot and he careened toward the sink.

Kent snatched the syringe from the floor. Just as Roy turned,
the trocar angled toward Kent, he slammed the syringe into the killer’s arm,
pumping the contents into Roy’s flesh.

Still, the trocar’s sharp tip found Kent’s neck, pushing
against his skin, trying to find his jugular. If that happened, Kent knew that
he would bleed out before anyone could stop it. But the tip didn’t dig any
further.

How could it, as Roy’s arm lost its strength and his muscles
went lax?

“Was that a single dose in the syringe?” Kent asked as he
pushed the plunger all the way down. By the way Roy’s eyes dilated, it hadn’t
been. “Oh, so that was an overdose, then?”

Roy tried to speak but his lips just made a flapping motion.

“Is that how your victims tried to scream, Roy?” Kent
grabbed the killer’s arm and turned the trocar away from his own neck and
toward Roy’s. “Did they see it coming? Did they flail?”

Well, Roy certainly was. Kent took some grim satisfaction as
the killer’s arms flopped around like fish just pulled from the water. Pushing
harder, Kent brought the tip of the trocar up to Roy’s neck, letting the sharp
edge lay against his skin.

“Could they feel the blood rush out of them? Did they know
the exact moment they passed the point of no return?”

By Roy’s dilated pupils and fluttering eyelids, Kent guessed
that they did.

Before he could help Roy really get in touch with his
victim’s feelings, the door burst open. “Kent!”

* * *

Nicole raced over as Roy fell to the ground. Kent’s knees
buckled and she caught the profiler while still holding her gun on the downed
killer. “Are you okay?”

Ruben charged in behind her. He dropped to his knees,
checking Roy’s pulse. “He’s alive, but barely.” Her partner glared at Kent.
“What the hell happened here?”

“Self-defense.”

“With a syringe and trocar?” Ruben demanded.

The profiler shrugged. “You use the gifts that God gives
you.”

Her partner flipped his phone open and tried to dial for
help, but there was no signal. Luckily, sirens sounded in the distance. Their
backup. Finally.

“I’ll flag them down,” Ruben said as he rushed from the
room.

Kent leaned heavily into Nicole as he retorted. “You do
that.”

She helped the profiler into a kitchen chair. She ran her
hands over his arms, chest, neck. “Are you injured?”

“A few blows to my pride perhaps…”

How Kent could go into the ring with a vicious serial killer
and come out of it without a scratch was beyond her, but here he was. The only
thing out of place was a few hairs. She combed them back in place with her
fingers.

“What took you so long?” Kent asked softly. It was only then
that Nicole realized they were only inches apart.

Taking a step back, she couldn’t look the profiler in the
eye. “We followed a noise into the storage area.”

“And the shots?”

“Um… A rat. But in our defense,” Nicole hurried on, “it was
a
really
big rat.”

Kent smiled, his eyes softening as he chuckled. The
expression was incongruent, yet oddly consistent with the profiler’s
personality. “That’s when you figured out that Roy had doubled back?”

Nicole nodded. “We hurried back to the main room and I found
the trap door under the surgical table.”

“You
found
it? Like it was hidden and you deduced its
location?” Kent asked, narrowing his eyelids. Seriously, the guy was half
psychic.

“Well, Roy didn’t close it completely shut,” Nicole
admitted.

Her eyes shifted to the man lying, like a broken doll, on
the floor, his legs askew and neck bent at an awkward angle. She couldn’t bring
herself to straighten him out. To think, for all this time she had casually chatted
with him. Thought of him as an okay kind of guy. He’d even bought her coffee,
for Christ’s sake. And she’d returned the favor.

“What really happened?” she asked.

“You would like to know, wouldn’t you?”

The profiler’s gaze bored into her. His eyes scanning back and
forth across her face almost like he was reading a book. Could he see that
being a junior partner in a Midwest city’s police department hadn’t been her
career goal? Could he see that she’d written down “FBI agent” in her
kindergarten dream job book? Did he know that dream had been shattered when her
father had been diagnosed with MS? How her brother had gotten to go off to
Harvard law school, but Nicole had had to stay close by to help with her
father’s illness?

A barely perceptible grin returned to Kent’s lips as Ruben
and the rest of their backup rushed into the room. “Not here,” the profiler
whispered. “Later.”

His voice had been so soft that it seemed like he hadn’t
even breathed the words. Especially not as the room filled with the chatter of
cops and EMTs. Ruben barked orders, trying to contain the chaos, but The
Professor had been caught. There would be no containing that.

Yet the profiler simply watched the scene with what appeared
to be a sense of amusement. Like it was just another day at the office for him.
And it probably was. What would it feel like to have the audacity to go up
against a serial killer,
alone
? And to have the confidence that you
could win?

Nicole didn’t know, but damn if she didn’t want to give it a
try.

* * *

Ruben signed yet another form as Roy was wheeled out of the
house toward the ambulance. Out of the knot of first responders, Captain Glick
strode up the steps of the farmhouse and entered the living room.

“Excellent job, Torres.”

Grinding his teeth, Ruben flicked his eyes towards
Harbinger. “I can’t take all the credit, Captain.”

“Sure you can,” the profiler said as he leaned against the
doorframe. “I just came along because I thought we were getting ice cream.”

Glick frowned. The captain wasn’t any too fond of humor, let
alone sarcasm. “I don’t understand.” Ruben went to explain when Glick held up
his hand. “I’ll read about it in the report.”

“Captain!” a uniformed cop called out from the back of the
house.

Before moving off, Glick turned to Ruben. “A thorough
report. A
painstakingly
thorough report.”

“Yes, sir,” Ruben answered.

The captain wasn’t two feet away when the profiler pushed
off the doorframe. “Well, I’ve given my statement, so I think I’ll be off.”

“Yeah,” Ruben responded, more relieved than he should have
been. “You do that.”

The dig just didn’t work when Harbinger looked ready to hit
the town in that tux of his. Then Ruben noticed Nicole heading toward the door.

“Where do you think you’re going?” Ruben asked, before
thinking it through.

“Kent offered his expertise on a few of my cold cases,”
Nicole said, although her partner wouldn’t meet his gaze. “And since he’s
leaving in the morning…”

Expertise. Right.

Ruben knew enough about Nicole to know that he couldn’t
strong-arm her into staying, as much as he wanted to. He tried a different tactic.
“Whoever writes up the report gets the collar.”

She reached out and patted his shoulder.
Patted.
“You
deserve it, Ruben. You put in all the legwork.” After giving his arm a little
squeeze, she turned for the door.

Once she was past the profiler, Harbinger winked at him. “I
wouldn’t wait up.”

Ruben tried to count to ten, however he couldn’t even think
of what came after the number one. Glick came up from behind.

“Is Nicole leaving with the profiler?” Glick asked. All
Ruben could do was nod. The captain squinted into the night. “And isn’t that
your
car they’re taking?”

“Yep.”

Why was it that on the night of catching his first serial killer,
Ruben felt like the loser?

“Guess it’s best they get to know one another,” Glick said,
clearly not in tune with Ruben’s inner landscape. “Harbinger’s requested to
transfer here as a consultant.”
Of course he had
. Glick continued, “And
the FBI has already approved it.”
Of course they had.
“The serial
killers of this city are going to have to sit up and take notice,” Glick
finished.

As the captain moved off, Ruben stared out past the knot of
police vehicles and watched the lone car leaving the crime scene until it
disappeared behind the trees. Ruben doubted that serial killers were the only
ones that needed to take notice of the profiler.

Damn it.

# # #

Thank you so much for reading the origin
of the Harbinger Mystery series. Hopefully you are more than prepared for the
twists and gruesome turns
Plain
Jane
and
Dark
Lullaby
have in store.

If you enjoyed Anatomy, I would like to
ask you a favor to please go back to Amazon and leave a review. We indie
authors live and die by our reviews!

My Soul to Keep
, a Harbinger
novella featuring Nicole should be out November 2012 so be on the look out.

Can't wait until then? Check out the
next section featuring other mysteries!

If you enjoyed the twists and turns of
Dark
Lullaby
, you might want to try Harbinger’s first novel the #1
Bestselling (Police Procedurals and Hard-Boiled Mysteries)…

In the words of
New York Times
best-selling
author,
James Rollins
(
Altar
of Eden
and
Bloodline
)…

“The suspense is drawn out to the last drop,
right up until you discover the shocking truth! To catch a killer, just how far
would you go? Read Plain Jane: Brunettes Beware and you will discover that
there's a fine line between madness and genius!”

Brighter Scribe

Amazon Reviewer

More praise for
Plain Jane: Brunettes Beware
.

“I took the warning of the readers before me
to clear the calendar before reading this book. I am so glad that I did! Taking
a break from daily chores, I decided to get lost in a story.”

Kara Haas

Amazon Reviewer

“Plain Jane drew me into the story from page
one. I would have read the entire book in one day if my schedule permitted. The
reader is taken into the dark, disturbing world from a serial killer's point of
view. It grabs hold of you and won't let go. Not for the squeamish, but you
dare not blink if you want to know what happens next.”

Jennifer Chase

Author-
Dark Mind

The purchase or sample
Plain Jane: Brunettes Beware
simply click
here.

* * *