Skin (23 page)

She stopped dead in her tracks, and the breath froze in her throat.

A woman’s arm.

A black woman’s arm.

Her first instinct was to run and get help, but she couldn’t make herself move. She stuffed the cell phone back in her pocket. Her hands shook as she lifted the trash bin’s lid, but even before she got it open, Lilith knew what she would find.

Caresse lay on the heap of black bags, her limbs askew as if someone had tossed her inside as carelessly as the rest of the garbage. She was still dressed in her skimpy costume, and even under the yellow alley light, Lilith could see she was covered in her own blood.

The costume left her stomach bare, exposing an open knife wound.

Thinking Caresse was dead, Lilith choked back a sob. The dancer had been kind to her, had warned her to stay safe. So what wrong move had
she
made to incite such
violence.
Who did this to her?
The hunter-murderer?

Not that she fit his profile.

But what if...

The idea drifted off when Lilith realized that blood still oozed from the open wound.

Could Caresse still be alive?

Taking a closer look, she saw the woman’s lips part slightly – Caresse was still breathing, if barely.

Lilith used a hand to apply pressure to the wound. Warm blood oozed between her fingers. She swallowed hard when she tasted bile.

“Help is coming, Caresse. Don’t die,” she pleaded, and then, with her free hand, pulled her cell phone from her pocket and made that call to Pucinski.

oOo

MICHAEL TOOK a fast shower and left the bathroom wrapped in a towel. The place was quiet.
Too quiet.
Fearing that, despite her promise, Lilith had left again, he went straight through the bedroom to the living area.

“Lilith?”

Then he saw the monitor.

The freeze-frame of Hannah.

And the open door.

“Fuck!”

He called her cell, but the call went straight to voice mail.

“Come on, Lilith. Where are you?”

oOo

LILITH PACED the corridor of the emergency room, waiting to hear about Caresse. She couldn’t get rid of the picture in her mind of Caresse covered in her own blood. It was a snapshot that would be burned in her brain forever.

The ambulance had arrived two minutes after she’d made the call. Detective Pucinski
was with Caresse now, wanting
to get a statement when the medical team brought her around.

 
If
they brought her around.

What if they didn’t?

What if Caresse didn’t survive?

Let her be all right.
She didn’t know if anyone was listening, but she hoped so. No one deserved to die like that.

She took a seat in the waiting area and sat frozen, her mind going in circles. She’d left Michael’s place after thinking he could be the killer. But she’d been with him when Caresse had been knifed, so he’d had nothing to do with that. And how likely was it that two killers stalked the same club? She didn’t believe in coincidence. At least she was relieved that she’d been correct about Michael in the first place. His only crime had been to keep what he knew about Hannah and her to himself.

So who had knifed Caresse?
And why?

Had the dancer seen or overheard something that could shed light on The Hunter Case? Did the killer decide to keep Caresse from talking? If so, no doubt he believed he’d left her for dead.

Which made her wonder whether Hannah and Carmen were still alive.

Just when she thought she couldn’t stand waiting another minute without some kind of information, Pucinski came down the corridor looking for her. Lilith jumped out of her seat and met him halfway.

“Did she make it?”

He nodded. “The surgery went okay. She’s not awake yet, but they say
she’s
gonna live.”

“Thank God.” Relief eased the tension in Lilith’s body – she’d been strung tight since finding Caresse. “Who could have done this to her?”

“The same psycho who took your sister.”

“I thought so, too.
If that’s true, not Michael, then.
I was with him.”

“I assume you mean Wyndham.” When she nodded, he said, “She must have been closing in for the bust, and the killer must’ve figured it out.”

“Bust?”
Confused, Lilith asked, “What are you talking about?”

“Arresting the bastard.
She’s been working the club since the second murder.
Got all torn up because she didn’t get to him before he got to your sister.”

“Wait. You’re saying that Caresse was the undercover cop?” When he nodded in agreement, Lilith’s breath caught in her throat.
“Oh, my God.”
Stunned, she asked, “What about Gabe O’Malley? He’s been at the club every night.”

“Not on the job, he hasn’t. He’s been assigned to a paperwork detail for the last three months.
Got benched after working over a perp.”

Her mind already churning, Lilith backed off. “If Caresse wakes up, tell her I’m pulling for her.”

“Hey, wait a minute!”

But she couldn’t wait. She ignored him and raced out of the hospital.

Why had Gabe made her believe he was working undercover if he wasn’t? She had to find out if she’d missed the obvious right under her nose.
If Gabe was the one.
She had to be sure this time. She’d been ready to tell Gabe that Michael could be guilty, and she’d been wrong.

She couldn’t accuse another innocent man.

oOo

MICHAEL CHECKED Hannah’s place. No Lilith. She wasn’t at the club, either. Joe told him about Caresse, how Lilith had found her.

His stomach as heavy as if he’d ingested a ton of
lead,
he headed straight for the hospital emergency room. It hadn’t taken him long to figure out what Lilith had been up to. He’d known she was Hannah’s sister from the start. And he’d checked her out after she’d started working at the club. He’d known she was trying to draw out the killer. He’d admired that. And he’d known the danger she was drawing to herself.

The more he’d gotten to know Lilith, the more he’d admired her. He’d never before met a woman with such conviction.
A woman who was so brave.
The more he’d gotten to know her, the less he’d liked what she was doing. He’d tried to talk her out of it, had tried to convince her to quit the club.

He’d be damned if he didn’t try again.

She might not want to listen to him after seeing the interview with her sister, but he was going to tell her everything she wanted to know. And then he was going to try to talk her into leaving the investigation to the police.

Finally in the ER, he went straight to the desk. “I’m looking for Lilith Mitchell. She’s a friend of the woman from Club Paradise who was knifed.
Caresse something.”

“Her name is Carrie Walker.”
This from a crusty-looking man in a rumpled suit.
He’d been talking to a nurse. Now he indicated she should go, and he turned his narrow-gazed attention to Michael. “What do you want with Lilith Mitchell?”

“What business is it of yours?”

The man pulled out a leather holder and flipped it open to show his star.
“Detective John Pucinski.”

Michael took a deep breath. He
wasn’t liking
this. Where in the hell was Lilith?

“I’m a friend concerned for her safety.”

“And why would that be?”

“I know why she got a job at the club.” Figuring Pucinski knew, too, Michael added, “I know about her sister.”

“She tell you all this?”

“Look, it doesn’t matter how I know. I’m worried about her. She left my place without telling me, so I went to the club to make sure she was okay. The bartender told me what happened and that she followed the ambulance here.”

“You missed her by less than five minutes. You know she’s been putting herself at risk at that club.”

Michael’s gut churned. “I tried to get her to quit. She wouldn’t listen to me. I can only imagine how desperate she is to find her sister Hannah and some kid named Carmen before it’s too late. She left here. I fear she’s doing something to find them on her own.
Something really crazy.”

oOo

WHEN LILITH arrived at Gabe’s house, she didn’t see his car anywhere. The house itself was dark inside. Good. She waited in the Jaguar for a few minutes to see if anything would change.

No lights.

No movement.

No car pulling up.

As a matter of fact, no one was on the street.

Closing her eyes for a second, she took a deep breath to steady her nerves. She had to do this. Had to find out if Gabe had Hannah and Carmen before it was too late.
Had to see if there was proof of his crimes somewhere in the house.
Then she could call Pucinski and tell him to arrest the bastard.

“I can do this,” she whispered fiercely. “I CAN DO THIS!”

Another breath and she got out of the car. Looking around carefully, she crossed the parkway and the sidewalk and took the gangway to the rear of the house. As she went, she checked the basement windows. No lights. No way in. When she got to the backyard, she stared into the night in every direction to see if anyone else was around. No one she could see.

Tires squealed nearby, making her jump.

A couple of teenagers out front were laughing.

In the distance, a siren howled.

Then, all grew quiet.

Her stomach was in a knot, but she had to get inside.

Heart hammering, she took one last, furtive look around before popping a glass pane in the door panel. Then she reached inside the opening and unlocked the door. She hesitated a second, listening hard for any sign of life inside.

Silence.

Hardly able to swallow the tension thickening in her throat, she slipped into the rear vestibule.
Clicked on her flashlight.
Prowled on silent feet.
She’d made a quick run home to change into dark workout clothes, a jacket with a hoodie and rubber-soled running shoes. Though certain she was alone in the house, she tried not to make a noise. Just in case.

Half-entering a bedroom, she flashed her beam around. Empty.
Down the hall, another bedroom.
Equally empty.
Across the hall, a bathroom.

Now what?

Seeing an open door and stairs on the other side, she descended into the basement and swung her flashlight in a big arc.

The beam caught the glow of glass eyes, making Lilith start. A stuffed animal head loomed over her, and next to it were others. Below them, a case held weapons – rifles and shotguns and knives. Gabe had said he was a hunter. She’d never seen such a collection, though her stepfather had been a hunter, as well.

As a teenager living in a small southern Illinois town, she’d learned all about guns. She used to fantasize about using one on Marlon, but the only things she’d ever shot had been pop bottles and cans. She would never use one on another human being.

Then she spotted the framed black and white photographs.

“My God!
You son-of-a-bitch!”

Lilith flashed her beam to find the light switch on the wall, flipped it on so she could better see the five framed photographs. The first was Gabe’s wife... next, the two murdered women... then Hannah... and finally, the other ripped half of her photo taken from the club.

She was next on his list.

The realization made her go cold inside.

She’d known the killer was dangerous, that he might strike out if she got too close.

This was worse. She had become part of his plan.

She thought of everyone who’d warned her not to do this. Elena.
Caresse.
Pucinski.
Michael.
Even Gabe himself.
And she hadn’t listened, not to any of them. Now she had a bull’s-eye on her back.

Not that she could stop.

She was thinking that, if only she could find where Gabe was holding Hannah and Carmen, she could leave the rest to the police, when she spotted a mahogany and glass case snugged against the wall. There on the middle shelf was the mate to the heart-half she wore – Hannah’s half.

Absolute proof that he had her sister.

Her gaze moved up to the souvenirs of the two women he’d killed. Disbelieving, she tasted bile for the second time that night.

The papers hadn’t said anything about this. The police must have held back information. She wondered if Gabe’s father would be proud of the way his son had taken to those hunting skills.

Detective Gabriel O’Malley had skinned his victims.

Chunks of long dark hair still attached to their scalps told her exactly what he planned to do to Hannah.
And what about Carmen?

Neither was here, so where had he stashed them?

Hand shaking, she pulled out her cell to alert Pucinski. The call went straight to voice mail. Before the greeting was finished so that she could leave a message, she heard a real-life noise.

Above her, a door slammed.

“Gabe,” she whispered, suddenly terrified that he might catch her.

She dropped the call and turned down the ringer volume.
Stuck the cell back into her pocket.

Floorboards overhead creaked.

Trying not to panic, she snapped off the light just as she heard the first footsteps on the stairs.

Her legs shook as she slid into the basement’s interior and plastered herself in the shadows surrounding the boiler. Hiding from him gave her time to think.
To plot.
She could jump him, maybe knock him out, but then she might never be able to find Hannah and Carmen. She hadn’t found anything to indicate where Gabe had stashed them.

When he got to basement level, Gabe switched the light back on.

Certain that he would be able to see her if he looked this way, Lilith hugged the shadows. Her senses went off-kilter – she couldn’t hear beyond her own breath, and her mouth went dry and vision telescoped.