The Hidden (26 page)
Authors: Heather Graham
But murder was an art to be properly learned, and practice improved any art.
It took him another two years to lure Celia Hampton away with him. He’d waited for a frat party. Waited until she was drunk and vomiting and offered her a wet towel—doused with a drug, of course. Then he’d slipped her into his old van and out to the woods in Virginia, far from the city. He hadn’t had to strip her; he’d shown her his knife and she’d done everything he wanted. After that, he’d cut her. First her throat. Slowly. He’d let her bleed out...while he sliced open her gut.
He’d thrown her in a river—weighing her down by stuffing her with stones. By the time she was found...the river had washed away all evidence.
In the beginning he’d been able to live on the memory for years. Then, more recently, he’d felt the need to kill again. But now things were different. The need came faster. He got work that allowed him to travel, and it had afforded him opportunities for murder. He was controlled, always controlled and always careful. He studied his victims. They were never ugly again. They were the pretty ones. But he made sure that when they were found, he couldn’t be. They might know about him—since communications among law enforcement officers were pretty good these days—but they didn’t know who he was.
He always took a souvenir.
The tongue.
Serial killers often took souvenirs. He’d determined that would be his souvenir of choice.
They would recognize his work.
Then again, maybe not; he left his victims in water, weighed down with whatever he could find. And the water concealed any evidence there might be.
Yes, he had an alter ego. And he’d paved the way. Two dead already, just in the past month. Now...this one. And there’d have to be more.
He’d watched the first girl, Sarah, not with malice, but with purpose. He hadn’t done anything out of hatred or viciousness. He’d been inexperienced then, still learning. With Celia, the second girl, it had been easy. It wasn’t that he
liked
what he’d done. He’d seen the need early on and he did his job as he understood it.
It was just necessary. Like dressing every morning, driving, breathing, eating—making a living.
He wished he could be sorry. He wasn’t.
He did what he needed to do, and that was all.
He’d become Slash McNeil.
For a moment, he paused. It was messing with him this time. He had it figured out—and damned well, too. The girls, the type, the psychology.
But this one...
This one was different. The way he handled her had to be different. And he sure as hell didn’t like it, not one bit.
Still...
He was prepared. He’d prepared for this possibility months ago, and in actuality, there were things about it that were even more appealing than usual. This involved wits and careful machinations and a certain danger that made it all the more exhilarating; it gave him a high that was greater than the rest.
He smiled and thought about the woman—her flair, her grace, her confidence.
And he thought about what she’d be...
When it was all over.
ISBN-13: 9781460390207
The Hidden
Copyright © 2015 by Heather Graham Pozzessere
All rights reserved. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical,
now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of publisher, Harlequin Enterprises Limited, 225 Duncan Mill Road, Don Mills, Ontario, Canada M3B 3K9.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events or locales is entirely coincidental. This edition published by arrangement with Harlequin Books S.A.
® and ™ are trademarks of the publisher. Trademarks indicated with ® are registered are registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office, the Canadian Intellectual Property Office and in other countries.