Sweet Dreams Boxed Set (32 page)

Harvey frowned at her, but he didn’t argue. Instead, he turned toward his exam table and motioned toward the body on display. “Our victim is twenty-five-year-old Evette Summers. Her fingerprints turned up in the system, so ID’ing her was easy.” He exhaled. “She was stabbed four times, and it appears when the blade was plunging into her, the killer…twisted the weapon, seeking maximum damage.”

Ivy’s nails bit into her palms.

“There weren’t defensive wounds on the victim.” Harvey rubbed his chin. “Based on the angle of entry, I doubt our victim
could
fight back after the first drive of that knife into her.”

“And she didn’t even realize the attack was coming,” Ivy said. 

Harvey blinked.

Ivy moved, positioning her body in front of Bennett’s as she remembered that terrible scene. “They were like this when I first saw them.” She pushed her back against Bennett. She took his left arm, wrapped it around her body, and then with his right… “A lover’s pose.  She probably thought she was totally safe, until the blade went into her the first time.” 

Bennett’s hold tightened on Ivy.

“Then it was too late,” she said sadly.  “All she had time to do was scream for help.” Help that Ivy hadn’t given to her.  

Harvey nodded.  “I
have
started an exam on Councilman Crenshaw.”

Ivy flinched and moved away from Bennett. She’d heard that the councilman hadn’t survived long enough to reach the hospital.

“He had defensive wounds.  And his stab wounds were centered close to his heart. A chest attack.”

“Shouldn’t there have been spatter from that kind of attack?” Bennett demanded.

Ivy stared down at the woman on that exam table.  She was only a year younger than Ivy. Their hair was the same. Their bone structure even similar…

“There should have been,” Harvey agreed, “but you said your perp had on a tux, right? Maybe when he was leaving, he just ditched his jacket.  The blood could have been on it, and nothing else he wore.”

“Maybe that jacket is still at the convention center,” Bennett mused. “I’ll get the crime scene team to search again. We can’t afford to miss something like that.”

No, they couldn’t.

Ivy inched closer to the exam table.

“Have there been more?” Bennett asked quietly.

Ivy’s gaze cut to him.

“Any other victims brought in like her?” Bennett pressed. “With stab wounds like hers? Knives are intimate weapons.  The weapons that killers use when they like to get up close and feel their victims die. A power rush.” 

Okay…He was creeping her out a bit.  Sounding a bit too much like he understood the killer.

Harvey rubbed his chin, seeming to think about it.  “I’ll have to pull my records, but I seem to recall a Jane Doe with similar wounds who was discovered down here, right about Mardi Gras…about two years ago.”

Two years.

“And there might have been one more.”  Harvey headed toward the exam table. He stared down at the woman—at Evette—but Ivy felt as if he weren’t actually seeing her. “A younger victim, about four years ago. Nineteen years old, twenty?  She was stabbed, too, but actually…she was killed in New Orleans. A colleague told me about her. Her story stuck with me because…” Now his attention shifted back to Bennett. “Because she was found during Mardi Gras, too. And I remember he said finding her killer was going to be damn near impossible because the Big Easy goes mad during the Mardi Gras party.”

Three potential victims. Four, counting the councilman.
Ivy knew this was big. Scary big.

“I want to see all of those case files,” Bennett instructed. “Right away. Give me what you’ve got on the local victims, and I’d really appreciate you putting in a call to your friend in New Orleans, too.”

Harvey nodded. “Of course.”

I need to see those files, too.
But she couldn’t very well say that, not with Bennett standing there and glowering.

“Thanks for your time,” she told the doctor even as she made a mental note to call him later. Harvey would give her the info she needed. After all, he was practically family.

Bennett took her elbow and rather hurriedly escorted her from the ME’s office.  As soon as they were in the hallway and that door closed behind them…

“What in the hell!” Bennett exclaimed. “You aren’t supposed to be here!”

She squinted up at him. “Where should I be?”

“Getting a security system installed!” He threw up his hands.

“Oh, yes, Hugh is supervising that for me. No worries.” She gave him a bright smile. “A little bird told me about your meeting with the ME, and I figured it was important for me to attend.”

“Important?” The word seemed strangled.

“Since we’re partners and all—”

“We are
not
partners!”

She sighed. “Fine. We’re two independent investigators who happen to be working the same case.”

Jaw locked, he gritted out, “I’m the homicide detective in charge and
you
are a witness and a potential victim. You aren’t investigating the case.”

“Um, I kind of…am, investigating, that is.”

His lips parted, but he didn’t speak. Maybe he couldn’t. Ivy would consider that a win for her.  “There’s no point fighting this,” Ivy told him bluntly. “I’ve got more connections in this town than you can count.  I’ll get the info that I need and we can either share things, or, well, I can get ahead of you.”

His eyes squeezed closed.  She felt as if he did that a lot. 

“Are we going back to the convention center now?” Ivy asked him. “Because I think we need to be there when the crime scene techs sweep again for that jacket. They won’t have a whole lot of time, you know. Another ball is scheduled to occur there tonight, and there’s
no way
the mayor will let that place stay a crime scene. Too much rides on Mardi Gras, and you know it.”

His eyes cracked open. “I’m going to the convention center.”

Uh…

“
You
are staying away from my case.  You’re a civilian.”

Why did he make that word sound like a curse?

“It’s too dangerous for you to get involved in this case.”  Then his hands closed around her shoulders. His voice softened. “Don’t you see that I’m just trying to protect you?”

And don’t you see that I’m trying to help the victim?

Their gazes held. 

“Same old Ivy,” he finally muttered. “You think your family’s money can buy your way just about any place, don’t you?”

His words hurt.  He didn’t know what she’d done—he didn’t know anything about her. “Same old Bennett,” she whispered back, aching for them both. “Seeing only what you want to see. And missing out on something great right in front of you.” She pulled away from him.  “Good luck with your investigation.” Then she headed down the hallway. 

She didn’t look back.

***

“I couldn’t help but overhear…”

Bennett glanced over his shoulder as the door to the ME’s office opened. Dr. Battiste lifted his brow. “Well, I overheard because I was listening.”

What the hell?

“I don’t like the way you were talking to Ivy.”

He was starting to think that everyone around him was insane.  “This case isn’t some walk in the park.” No, if his gut was right…then they might just be looking at a serial killer.

Not the fuck again.
He’d barely escaped the last serial he’d faced, and he had the scars to prove it.  The bastard had nearly gutted him, and Bennett had watched as his partner died right in front of him.

And Ivy thinks I’ll let her partner with me on this case? Hell, no. 
The last thing he ever wanted was her put at risk.

“Ivy knows how to handle the dark side of life,” Dr. Battiste said.

She did? Since when?  His head cocked as he studied the doctor. “You’re the little bird.”

“Can’t say I’ve been called that before…”

“You told Ivy that I was coming in today, didn’t you?”

Dr. Battiste shrugged. 

“Why would you do that?  She doesn’t need to be involved.”

“If he’s hunting her, then she needs to know everything about this case.” Dr. Battiste’s voice was flat.

He was missing something. Something big.

Dr. Battiste smiled at him. “Ivy and I meet for lunch on Saturdays.  Every Saturday. Since her grandfather passed, well, someone needed to fill that void for her.  I’m the one who taught that girl how to bait her first fishing hook, and I’m the one who watched her cry when she learned that the fish die once they’re reeled in…Ivy doesn’t like to kill things, you see.  She learned real quick how to catch and release…”

He hadn’t realized how close those two were. Actually, he hadn’t known they were close at all.

“You really think all she and her grandfather did was take fluff cases?”

He didn’t—

“I didn’t know you were that piss poor of a cop.”  Dr. Battiste walked past him. “My mistake. Why don’t you try doing a little research on the Sebastian Jones murder? Go see what you turn up,
Detective Morgan.
” 

Bennett watched him go, frowning now.

And wondering if he knew Ivy at all. 

***

“Why in the hell do you want to do this to yourself?”

Ivy glanced up at Hugh’s question. They were in her den, no, the
parlor,
and she’d just pulled up a search engine on her computer. Dr. Battiste had emailed her the names of the other potential victims, and she wanted to see what she could find on them. “This?” she asked carefully. 

He sighed and shook his head.  His hair was the same dark shade of her own, his eyes a deep brown.  He was the older twin, by fifteen minutes. Older…and stronger. At least at birth. He’d been six pounds. She’d been barely three. She’d stayed in intensive care for weeks.  Her mother had told her that the doctors hadn’t been sure she’d survive.

She had.

“Why do you keep trying to atone for what he did?”

Her shoulders stiffened. “I don’t know what you mean.” She closed her laptop, not wanting him to see her search. “Are the security installers done?”

“Yeah, you’re good to go.  They’re waiting to show you how the system works.” 

She stood and hurried around her desk.

Hugh didn’t move. “You think I don’t feel guilty, too?”

“This isn’t about our guilt.”

“Of course, it is. You’re trying to save the world because you think it can make up for what he did.  But you can’t save everyone, Ivy. And, after last night, I think we just need to focus on saving
you.
”

She put her hand on his arm. “I don’t need saving.” 

“Bullshit.”

“Hugh…”

“I know about the cases you’ve taken. Did you even get paid for them?”

No, not all but—

“You’ve been walking a dangerous line for years, and it’s got to stop.  If it doesn’t, you’re going to get hurt.”

Her breath heaved out. “I didn’t go looking for this case, all right? I saw that woman die.  I just wanted to help her.”

Hugh was so much taller than she was. “Who will help you, though, Ivy? If you’re caught alone in the dark again with that SOB, who will be there for you?” 

She didn’t have an answer for him. Bennett wasn’t going to be her partner, and for all of her other cases, well, she’d been working them on her own.

“The danger is too much. Hell, I don’t like this shit. Not one bit.”  His breath rushed out. “Maybe I should move in and stay for a while. Until the PD catches this guy. You don’t need to be alone—”

“I wasn’t alone after the attack at the convention center. Bennett was here.”

Hugh’s face hardened. “He’s no good for you, Ivy. How many times do I have to tell you that?”

“You can tell me a thousand times, but it won’t matter.” She didn’t pull her punches with Hugh. “Bennett and I aren’t done.” Even though he’d royally pissed her off at the ME’s office.  “You need to accept that.”

“So is he going to be here tonight, is he going to be here with you, every night, until that killer is behind bars?”

“I don’t know what he plans.” She stepped around him. “All I know is that I have to see some men about an alarm…”

***

Hugh watched his sister walk away. Ivy didn’t get it. She couldn’t fix the world, even though he knew that was
exactly
what she’d been trying to do for far too long. 

He’d always known that Ivy was the good twin.  The one who looked out at the world and hoped.

While he…

I know exactly what I am. And it’s not good.

If he found the jerk who’d terrorized his sister in that hallway last night, the guy wasn’t going to make it to the inside of a jail cell. No one hurt his family and gets away scot-free.

No one.

It was a lesson that he thought Bennett Morgan had learned years ago.

***

“You’re going back with him. Aren’t you?” 

Ivy glanced over at Cameron. He’d arrived at her house just as the security installers had left. And since then, he’d been pacing around like a caged tiger, the energy seeming to roll off him. 

“Cameron…”

“Bennett Morgan is no good for you.”

So she kept being told. Even though she didn’t remember asking what anyone else thought of Bennett.

Cameron moved to stand in front of her bay window. “I would have given you anything you wanted. You should have stayed with me.”

Oh, no.
No, no, no.
They couldn’t be back to this.  Ivy jumped to her feet and hurried toward him. Then…then she couldn’t touch him.  Fear held her back.
I don’t want to hurt him.
“Cameron, you know I love you.”

He looked back at her. His lips had twisted. “Like a friend.”

“No, more than that. Like family. You matter to me, so much.”

His gaze lowered.

“I’m not
in
love with you, Cameron, and you’re not in love with me.” She knew that with certainty. The guy had a new flavor of the week always waiting in the wings.  “I think we heard too many people tell us that we
should
be together when we were younger, but we weren’t right that way.  We didn’t fit.”