Skin (5 page)

Thinking about his next quarry, he fetched the case and set it on his leather chair. Oh-so-carefully chose and packed his tools.
Handcuffs.
Rope.
Hunting knife.
Rifle.
Ammunition.
Thin leather gloves.

He made an inventory.

Had he forgotten anything?

Lovingly smoothing a hand over the contents, he closed and locked the case.

Not that he was going to use it just yet. But he needed to be prepared for his newest prey. So fast, so fast, he thought with regret. He’d had far more time to ready himself in the past, had gone nearly four months between the first two. He’d been able to think about his actions. Plan them to the last detail.

Savor them.

This time was different.

His need was growing, spiraling out of control. Rubbing himself, he imagined the play-by-play. Barely two weeks after the last kill,
the
urge to take up the hunt returned as intense as a wet dream.

oOo

SATURDAY MORNING.
Too little sleep.
Up all night worrying about Hannah, wondering what she should do –
could
do – to get her sister back in her life, Lilith dressed fast. She spent several hours of most Saturdays doing something with Carmen, but how was that going to go with her worrying about her sister? If she cancelled, that would disappoint the girl, maybe lose her trust.

Just as she had Hannah’s.

Lilith wanted to return to her sister’s place to make amends. Hannah had done what she’d needed to in order to survive. And now she was proud of her life, or at least that’s what she projected. Lilith could accept that but she didn’t have to like it. She wanted something better for her sister, something safer – she hadn’t forgotten about the murders. She had to admit that while her heart went out to them, she’d never understood how women could stay in abusive situations where men used them up. She’d never understood how Mama could let a man beat her and her daughters.

And now Hannah was at risk, if in a very different situation.

She knew what she had to do if she wanted a relationship with her sister – understand her the way she was now. That meant knowing what Hannah had gone through after running. Though she’d imagined it all, she didn’t know the real horror. She had to ease into trying to find out, though, or she feared Hannah would simply continue to reject her.

If she couldn’t fix this relationship, if Hannah refused to be her sister, Lilith knew her heart would be broken all over again.

She was putting out cat food for Valkyrie, who was whirling around her ankles when the phone rang. Thinking it was Carmen, she picked up and said, “I know, I know, I’m late. How about meeting me at the seal pond – I’ll be there as soon as I can.”

“What seal pond?”

Hannah.

Heart pounding so hard she heard blood rush through her head, Lilith tried to sound normal.
“At Lincoln Park Zoo.”

“Doesn’t exactly sound like a hot date.”

“It’s not a date at all. I mentor a high school girl named Carmen Vargas.”

“Mentor? What’s that? Like a big sister?”

“Sort of.”

Silence.

Making Lilith realize Hannah didn’t like it. But she had made the first move, and Lilith couldn’t let that go. “Why don’t you meet us at the zoo?”

“Not my thing. Well, I didn’t mean to make you late. Talk to you some other time.”

“No, wait! Please!”

But it was too late. Hannah had already hung up.

“Damn, damn, damn!”

Hannah’s caller ID was there on her phone and Lilith reversed the call, which went directly to voice mail.

“Hannah, I would really like to see you. If the zoo isn’t your thing, then pick something.
Anything.”
Please.

Hoping Hannah would call her
back,
Lilith disconnected, then called Carmen, who agreed to meet her in half an hour.

Whipping out of her house, Lilith ran to the corner where she caught the bus that would get her to the zoo.
If Hannah didn’t call her back, then what?
Should she once more seek her out at the club? The thought of going there, of revisiting what her sister did for a living, depressed her. What if she said or did the wrong thing again?

Within the appointed half hour, she caught up to Carmen at the seal pond, located in the heart of Lincoln Park Zoo. For the moment, she tucked away her thoughts about her sister so she could concentrate on the teenager.

Lilith slid over to the rail next to Carmen and asked, “What animals do you want to see first today?”

Carmen shrugged, making Lilith wonder if she wanted to be there at all.

“Would you rather do something else?”

The girl shook her head. Normally she was talkative, full of enthusiasm. Today she was folded in on herself. Something was wrong.

“Well, let’s watch the seals for a while, then,” Lilith suggested, “and maybe you’ll think of something you’d like to do.”

As in talk?

She’d pushed her own sister away by trying to go too far, too fast. Not wanting to make that mistake with Carmen, she figured she’d better let the girl set the pace.

So when Carmen finally said, “Poppi says I gotta quit school,” Lilith was almost relieved.

“Why?” Did the father not want his daughter to exceed his own education?

“He said that since I’m seventeen now, I don’t have to go no more, that they can’t make me.”

“But you want to go, right?”

Carmen shrugged. “Poppi says it’s best for the family.
And me.
Better to stop wasting my life dreaming about something I’m never gonna get.”

“College?”

Carmen nodded.

“There are city colleges and scholarships for state and private universities.”

“Any money I make I would need for books and stuff. Poppi says it’s more important to put shoes on the little ones’ feet.”

“What do you think?”

“That I don’t
got
a choice.”

Lilith wanted to argue the point, but she needed to stay neutral, to give Carmen the support she needed without getting on her case. If she pressed too hard, the girl would push her away the way Hannah had, and Lilith simply couldn’t stand the thought of being estranged from someone else she cared about.

oOo

HANNAH STOOD at the rail of the rooftop café overlooking both the big cats and the seals and watched Lilith relate to the girl who’d been waiting for her.

They stood there for a while, silent, watching the antics of the seals. Hannah became impatient. Questioned
herself
as to why she was even there. What did she hope to get from playing detective?

They were talking now, and the girl – Carmen – was shaking. Lilith put an arm around her shoulders, and the girl started to cry. And then she threw herself against Lilith, and Lilith comforted her as if Carmen were her kid sister.

Well, they weren’t sisters. She and Lilith were sisters, Hannah thought, her temper rising. Where had Lilith been when
she
had needed a shoulder to cry on?

Not wanting to see more, Hannah backed off and hiked across the zoo grounds straight for the exit. Lilith hadn’t held her like that for too many years. Not since she’d abandoned her.

And, considering how Lilith felt about her working at a gentlemen’s club, now she never would.

Why did that bother her? Hannah wondered. She didn’t need Lilith’s approval. She was her own woman.
An adult.
She could do or be whatever she wanted. Lilith needed to know that, needed to stop underestimating her little sister. Well, it was time her little sister let her know what was what.

Then a male voice drifted after her.
“Hey,
chica
, why such a hurry?”

Though Hannah kept moving, she turned so she was walking backward. The Latino guy following her was kind of handsome in a tough way. Dark hair spilled over a scarred forehead. She sized him up. Leather and gold didn’t come cheap.

“Maybe I’m trying to get away from you.”

“Don’t look like it to me.”

“This is me, getting away,” Hannah said, turning again and walking forward toward the gate.

He was at her side in a second. “Not fast enough,
chica
. Maybe you want me to catch you.”

“You think a lot of yourself, don’t you?”

“If I don’t,
who’s
gonna?”

An attitude Hannah respected. Still, she wasn’t about to hook up with some guy just for the fun of it. No percentage in that. People she cared about never stuck around for long.

“Listen, I’m not available,” she told him.
“Really.”

Though part of her was glad when he dropped back, saying, “Your loss,” another part was disappointed that he didn’t try harder.

No one ever fought for her.

Not even her sister.

Lilith had been the lucky one, Hannah thought. She didn’t know anything about what could happen to a girl on the street. She had no idea of the things she’d had to do just to eat or what it took to pull herself up from that gutter.

Hannah knew.

And even though things were good for her now, even though she liked her life, she couldn’t help hating the people who had made her go through hell to get here.

All of them, including Lilith.

oOo

“THE USUAL,” Michael told Joe when he entered the Club Paradise bar.

“You got it,” Joe returned.

“Hey, good looking, wanna dance?”

He stared at the blonde whose breast implants bulged from a skimpy top and wondered how many lap dances she had done, wondered how many tricks she’d turned. Was it really worth the money?
he
wondered.

“Not tonight,” he said.

“Your loss.”

She swept by him slowly, rubbing up against his arm, letting him catch the thick scent of her perfume.

He turned to pick up his beer off the bar.

He wasn’t interested in the blonde in anything but a clinical way, the same as he was in most of the women who danced here. Probably most of them came from at-risk backgrounds. He was always looking for answers, but the more he pushed, the less he understood.

Out of nowhere, her image flashed in his mind. The conservatively dressed customer he’d met in here and had rescued from that creep. She’d been troubled.
By the place.
By the customers.
By him.
So why the hell had she been here?
A woman alone.
Not a working girl, of that he was certain.
A woman looking for a girlfriend?
He doubted that, too. What, then?

Something about her...

He shook the image away, tried to concentrate on the stage, but it was impossible until the one who called herself Anna Youngheart danced.

He studied her.
And the men who watched her.

Something about
her...
something different...

The difference was subtle, but he didn’t miss it. She wasn’t quite herself tonight. She seemed distracted.
Hiding emotion.
Anger?
Discontent of some sort rolled from her over him in waves.

His antennae went on alert.

Now here was something interesting.

Maybe
she
would open up to the camera, tell him what he needed to know to finally put the past behind him.

oOo

HAVING FINISHED her set, Hannah plopped herself down at an empty table and looked around for a fat fish. A moment later, Gabe O’Malley slid into the chair to one side, and she rubbed her leg along his.

“Hey, darlin’,” he said with a wink. “What can I get you
for.
”

“You know I only drink champagne.”

“An expensive girl with expensive tastes.”

Yes, she was. Why should she settle for less? Why should she even be thinking about it? Lilith. Her holier-than-thou sister disapproved. Well, tough.

“Want to take me somewhere nice for a late-night supper?” she asked Gabe.

“Not tonight. I have some things I need to take care of.”

“You’re a busy man.”

Yeah, right, Hannah thought, keeping her smile plastered to her lips. That’s why he spent his evenings here at the club. Because he was so busy.

“I’ll just have to find another escort, then.”

“Your time is coming, darlin’.” Gabe gave her a slow and sexy grin. “One of these days I’ll have time enough to give you everything you deserve.”

Why did that sound like a threat?

Telling herself she was being ridiculous, that Gabe had shown her a good time before without any roughhousing, Hannah widened her smile as she thought about how she would do him next time they got together. How she would make sure he would never seek out any dancer but her. She could probably manage it right now if she set her mind to it. She just didn’t feel like expending the energy.

Instead, she looked around for a replacement. Paul wasn’t around tonight, but Michael Wyndham was. The way Mr. Mysterious was looking at her would make a girl think
he
might be interested.

Undulating her way toward him, she licked her lips the way men liked. She stepped in front of him, raised her arms and fussed with her hair, watching through slitted eyes, expecting him to be mesmerized by her breasts.

His gaze locked with hers, and his lips curled into a smile. He simply seemed amused.

“What can I do for you, Miss Youngheart?”

“Maybe it’s what I can do for you.”

“I’m not interested in a lap dance.”

“What does interest you?”

“Whatever it is you have on your mind. Are you free later?”

Hannah’s heart pounded. He had an edge to him she couldn’t quite read. She sensed he could be dangerous. Lilith’s dire warnings messed with her mind for a minute.
All the more reason to hook up with him.

“I’m not free,” she said, “but I am available.”

“What time?”

“How about midnight?”