Page 88 of Kiss of Deceit

Her eyes cut to him, growing cold. “Run? Tristin was beating answers out of me before we were attacked. Or maybe I couldn’t run because your friend slipped sleeping pills into my drink at the bar. I’m still feeling them. I’m guessing it’s a mix of both.”

I spun around to see Monty already stumbling back. “You did what?”

“Wait, wait” he sputtered out, panic making his voice high. “Not me. It was Leon?—”

“Who did it while you were distracting me. You son of a bitch.” I threw a fist into his nose before I even finished talking. “You’re lucky I don’t kill you.”

He staggered a couple feet, his hands flying to his nose as it gushed blood. Harry got between us, pushing me back.

“If you can’t stay professional, you can’t stay here. I have those damn badges breathing down my neck. We can’t fuck this up.” He shot me a look of warning before focusing on Dani. “Why did Tristin bring you out here?”

“Because he thinks that she—” Monty pointed to Dani “—killed Lucas. And now she killed them. I bet Tristin is right. She’s the fucking murderer.”

“Enough,” I growled. “I was there the night Natalie was killed. I chased the killer through the woods whileshewas still in the station.”

“It is why Tristin brought me out here,” Dani said quietly. “I was trying to tell him I had nothing to do with Lucas’s death when the masked man came.”

I closed my eyes, blowing out a long breath.Everything. It was taking everything not to pound Monty into the fucking ground. He almost got her killed tonight.

“Go get checked at the hospital,” Harry grumbled. “I’m gonna need more people on this.”

“They’re dead,” Matt yelled from the bridge. “Stab wounds to the throat it looks like.”

“Throat?” I repeated. “Different MO than the others.”

Harry shook his head. “First time he’s killed two people at once too.”

“I—I need to see it for myself,” Dani said, inching backward before turning around. “I couldn’t do anything when he was killing them…”

She slowly walked toward the bridge, and I followed closely behind, checking to make sure Monty stayed back. Matt stood there, his arms crossed as she passed him. She stared at Leon’s slumped body before stumbling past it and running into therailing. I swept my flashlight past her, not seeing anything in the darkness. The killer was long gone by now.

Blood was covering the snow on the bridge. Leon and Tristin’s bodies were still lying where they were killed, and I could see the stab wound in Tristin’s throat. This was messy. Desperate. Different from the other murders.

My gaze snapped back to Dani when she wrapped her arms around herself, leaning against the wood. While it was clear she was letting panic take over…it was different from before. I’d seen her spiral the night we first slept together. The way she was acting now wasn’t the same. Guilt stabbed me when I realized what I was doing. She was in shock. I was being a piece of shit for judging her behavior.

I crept closer to her. “Dani?—”

“Just give me a second,” she cut me off between shallow breaths. “Please.”

Harry stopped beside me. “You think we can keep this quiet?”

“You have three men out here, plus Monty. The entire town will know by tomorrow night.”

He cursed under his breath. “The assholes will never leave if the murders keep happening.”

Dani shuffled slightly, and I turned my attention toward her when I spotted her grabbing something. There was a flash of silver before it disappeared. I narrowed my eyes when she turned to walk back toward us with her hands buried in her pockets.

“Can I go now?” she asked quietly.

“Go straight to the clinic,” Harry ordered.

“I’m fine. I just want to go home?—”

“I’ll take her,” a feminine voice said from behind us.

Dani’s face pinched when we turned to see Susan. She was bundled up in a thick blue jacket with a matching scarf. Irritation gleamed in her eyes when she looked at Harry.

“Why wasn’t I your first phone call?” she asked, the authority in her tone making Harry straighten up. “Two dead? The murderer is escalating.”