Carolina Rain (28 page)

Manny’s mind swam.

“Damn,” he said softly. “So these guys are somehow exposed to this toxin, hit the deck
,
and she can play unti
l they die or she kills them, and they
are aware of
what’s going on.
Is
that about right?”

“Simple, but that about covers it. We also found traces of beeswax and a dye called carmine. They’re used in lipstick.”

“What? She kissed them to transfer the poison?”

“Looks like it,” said Alex. “The thing is that it would have to get into their bloodstream fairly quickly. I’m waiting to hear back on the others, but this
victim
,
Daryl
Winters, has a small cut on the inside of his lip which could have been caused by biting him.”

“I have two obvious questions,” said Manny. “If she puts this toxin on or over top of her lipstick
;
why isn’t she dead? And where in hell does she get something as lethal as this?”

Alex shrugged. “
As far as not being dead, she may be immune to the toxins or just knows how to work around them. The other half of your question is tougher to answer.
I believe both of these toxins are supposed to have limited
availability
to the public and are regulated
. Someo
ne
would have
to explain the purpose for purchase if the amount is one hundred milligrams or more. Things could get sticky for someone if they didn’t have that knowledge.”

“I see
.
I bet our lady is brighter than that
. C
ould
she
get it somewhere else?”

“You can buy just about anything these days, if you try hard enough, and have just an iota of where to start. If this shit came from a commercial source, then we have a chance of identifying the corporate tag that’s supposed to be placed at the end, or maybe the beginning, of
the compound’s commercial ID sequence. The lab is checking those DNA tags as we s
peak. I think that’ll be a dead
end though because we’ve not see
n
this toxin before. Also, the sale of the separate substances should be traceab
le if she bought it on
line anywhere
.
W
e’ve got the support team checking out purchases of both materials
in
this area. I doubt if we’ll find one that advertises the combining of those formulas, however.”

“So what we’re really hoping to find is someone who is sloppy?”
questioned
Manny.

Dean nodded. “That doesn’t seem likely and even if we find a source that might have sold some in this area, it may not mean diddly squat
,
of course
,
because creating marine toxins that occur naturally is still a gray area for the FDA. Hell, she might even be making it herself.”

“Okay. Point taken. Maybe
we’ll
get something to go on. You two do what you do and we’ll meet back with Josh and Captain Tanner in two hours. I need to work on the profile
some
more. This one is a wee bit different.
”

“That’s doable
. A
nd I don’t like to hear words like that out of your mouth,” said Alex.

“I don’t like saying them.
There’s something going on here
with her that’s hard to pin down. She’s not sticking to a game plan, at least
not
totally.”

Just then, Sophie walked into the room, holding the camera she took from Moss Jackson, waving it high.

“Mommy’s got a surprise
,
and I think you’re going to like it, very much like it,” she cooed.

“Man, I love it when you talk like that,” answered Dean, his face
as
serious as it could be.

“Not that kind of
‘
like
’
but I
appreciate
where your mind’s at. Anyway, I’ve got video that may help us ID this sick wench,” she said
,
tossing the camera at Manny.

“What video?”

“The video that our very own Peeping Tom shot of Aphrodite as she walked out of room
sixteen
and down the street.”

CHAPTER-38

Knocking on the door of the ocean
-
front condo nestled off Fort Fisher Boulevard,
Lily
set her feet and waited. Her bag
was
lighter
:
n
o camera
,
no extra gear,
and no
change of clothes. This was going to be different. Not her usual approach, but one she’d been dreaming of since her awakening had been made complete, perhaps before. She suspected that these next few moments had been conceived at a different place in time, one she hadn’t truly understood
.
For that matter
,
was anything more important than the rush that
told
her heart
rate
to
accelerate to
double
its normal pace? Her hand, her good hand, began to tremble. She watched it in the scant light of the porch lamp
in wonder
.

So this was pure
bloodlust?

Li
ly
k
nocked again and felt her impatience grow. As she waited, she thought about
J.R.
’s face when he
’d
found out his grandson and Aphrodite had met in the
true
sense and not in that greasy hole in the wall. His tears
—
more precisely,
his blubbering—
seemed to be genuine
. Only it was
nothing she could relate to, not really. But
there had been a tremble of something. J.R.
had been kind to her and
,
except for her dad, that wasn’
t something that happened every
day unless you counted the lust-filled eyes of half the men in the Wilmington area. She
’d
done her most convincing consoling act, including tears, and had helped him off the floor, out the door, and
into the new pick
up
truck
he was so proud of. She’d patted his hand and asked him several times if he wanted her to drive him to w
here he had to go. He’d finally
shook her off and headed to the Medical Examiner’s office and would wait, alone, until they could prepare pictures for him to identify
Daryl
. The very thought of that ritual seemed to unnerve the old bastard
. He’d taken
a few moments
,
stuck out his chin
,
and
prepared to do
what she supposed
everyone in that
situation did. She had no such
luxury, given the circumstances of her father’s death, not that it would have meant anything to her emotionally. Again, she had no clue what was running through
J.R.’s
mind, just that it was real to him. To her, this situation was like being in another country and not understanding the language. She did have to admit to a certain curiosity
.
What would he do if
he
f
oun
d out who
had
pu
t Scarecrow Boy into the ground?

But there ha
d been something else reflected
in
J.R.
’s dark eyes, hadn’t there? Something that had made her look twice to see if she’d really caught a glimpse of what had surfaced
,
then disappeared. But it had raised its head just long enough to fondle her uneasiness and unsettle her mind. She recognized hate when she saw it. The kind that entices a man to act in a way he wouldn’t normally. She had seen that more than once herself, mostly from her mother who had abandoned her and dear old
D
ad.

J.R.
’s grandson had been murdered and the gamut of feelings that owned her boss included that kind of hate.
Now, she had
no doubt that he’d kill the person responsible for taking the life of his grandson,
given the opportunity. She
didn’t plan to be around long enough for the situation to curve in that direction. Still, there was a certain ambience to seeing someone in that much misery
. Added to that was
her inquisitiveness
. It
might delay her departure.

The door swung open and her next lover stood there, staring down at her.

“Have you been waiting long, baby?”

The man shook his head. “I figured you was worth the wait. Come on in.”

Moving slowly, Lily entered through the door and listened as he locked it behind her. Immediately
,
she felt his hand on
the
backside of her tight jeans. This was going to be easier than she’d anticipated.

Turning toward him, she touched his hand. “I’m glad you like what you see
. Let’s just
take
it slowly
.
It’ll make it sweeter.
”

“I hear ya, and you’re right on. I’ve been waiting to touch you since that
first d
ay you brought me my breakfast. I ain’t seen many walks better than
the
one you got.”

There was more than lust in his eyes. His depravity was in full gear and, unfortunately for him
,
would play directly into what this evening would bring. It was time to give the cops something else to think about
.
Nothing could be
better than playing with one of their own
.

Reaching into her purse, she dabbed her upper lip with her lipstick, and leaned closer.

“When you first came in with that ironed blue uniform, I knew this night was going to come. Then when you came in and told
J.R.
about old Carl, y
ou almost made me wet with the w
ay you took control,” she whispered in a husky tone practiced to perfection.

“Really? So uniforms turn you on?”

His forehead was beading up and his state was
frenzied
obvious.

“They do, but not like the men in them.”

Kissing him gently,
then biting his lip,
she whispered
w
hat she wanted him to do, then guided him to the back bedroom. Just as he sat on the edge of the mattress, he fell back on the large bed and began to convulse. T
hree
minutes later, she had a limb attached at each corner of his bed and her silk panties
jammed
firmly in
to
his mouth. Then she waited. Eventually
,
his eyes fluttered open and he focused a glazed look on her face. His eyes began to clear and
,
when he
saw
that he was bound, he struggled violently to free himself, fear and anger pulsating from his face each time he looked at her.

Sitting on the bed, she ran her hand over his chest. “That won’t do you any good,
s
ugar
.
I know what I’m doing and old Sampson himself couldn’t get loose from th
e
se tethers. Now. Are you ready to make me happy?”

He blinked, his gaze turning from pissy to unsure. Then he nodded. The way he moved his head, and his wide eyes, brought her a memory of someone that she’d know
n
in a place long ago, or at least it seemed like l
ong ago. She shook it a
way and
,
once again,
absorbed
the moment.

“Wow. You are a sick puppy
. J
ust my type. Good. I’m so glad to know that. This will be a night I’ll never forget. You either, I suspect.”

Pulling her bag fr
om the floor, she pulled out an
object, hid it behind her leg, and then moved to the head of the bed. She bent over, smiling. His eyes
showed
he was smiling back. It was what she had been waiting to see; that he trusted her. She raised the object over her head and watched intently as he went from a
twisted
form of trust to absolute fear.

No doubt about it, this night would be the best yet.

Her cell phone rang, then again. She tried to ignore it
except
it chimed again and threatened to ruin what she’d so carefully plotted out. It continued to annoy her
. S
he swore. It wasn’t so much the ringing
as the
ring tone
. It
was a song she’d listened to growing up
,
and since she received so few calls, she’d forgotten she’d assigned it to her ring
tone
. There was a sudden rush of a memory of her riding a merry-go-round and her dad trying to ge
t her to laugh without success. S
he’d
wanted
to laugh,
though,
hadn’t she?
Wanted was such a nebulous word, however.