Page 36 of Seven Deadly Sins

“Will do.” Annie headed out the door.

“Where have the two of you been?” The chief exited his office. “From now on, you tell me where you’re going.”

“Did something happen?” Harper widened her eyes.

“No, but it could have.”

Liam didn’t think it the time to let the chief know they’d been followed. “We’re pretty well able to confirm that the killer has a grudge against my father and Harper’s grandfather because he lost someone to cancer. Someone they were caring for. We’re going to work down the list of those who died in hopes of finding the killer’s identity.”

“Good work. The public is clamoring for an end to all this. I’m going to do a press conference this evening to try and soothe some ruffled feathers. Get me something to tell the reporters.” He closed his office door.

“He’s not asking for anything easy.” Harper sighed and headed for the office they shared.

~

Carl entered his home after work to see Lucy staring at her phone and laughing. “What’s so funny?”

She set the phone down. “Since you haven’t given me a job recently, I created my own fun. I followed the detective and the agent around, put a tracker on the detective’s jeep, and made a nuisance of myself.”

“Good. Make their job harder. I did come up with a plan at work today.” He shed his suit jacket and hung it in the closet. “I could use one of my faithful followers, I do have a meeting tonight and could speak with them, but since you aren’t enlightened, you’re expendable if something should go wrong.”

“Gee thanks. You sure know how to sweet talk a girl.”

Ignoring her sarcasm, he continued. “I like leaving clues for the detective and agent to follow. This time, I want to leave a trail they must follow in time to save someone. Of course, they won’t be able to save them, because I’ve already chosen to rid the world of this person.”

“I’m listening.”

“I hope so because I don’t want this messed up. It will have to be timed just right. You’ll leave a trail of breadcrumbs and kill the target right before the detective and agent get there. It has to be planned perfectly.”

“The tracker I planted will help with that. What are the clues? I can also track their phones.”

“I’ll have them for you by morning.” He grabbed a long-sleeved black shirt from the closet and replaced the white one he wore. “You can work on them, too, while I’m at my meeting, unless you want to come along.”

“No, thanks.” She gave an exaggerated shudder. “Finding myself surrounded by a bunch of freaks doesn’t sound like a fun evening.”

He gritted his teeth so hard his jaw ached. Someday, he’d put Lucy in her place. He couldn’t wait for that day.

“But, before the game begins again, I do have someone I want you to kill.” The other surgeon in the building had snapped after finding out that Carl had taken a few of the woman’s clients as his own.

She’d always wanted what he had, ever since they rented space in the same building.

Chapter Four

Harper woke thenext morning to her cell phone buzzing around her nightstand. She grabbed it and glanced at the screen. A body had been found in the city park. Another text told her Liam was waiting and where was she?

Eight a.m.? She jumped out of bed, tangling her legs in the blankets and tumbling to the floor. She landed on her elbow and knocked the breath out of her. Now, she lay gasping like a stranded fish. How could she have overslept?

Untangling herself, she dashed to the closet and quickly dressed. She splashed water on her face, tied back her hair in a ponytail and sprinted out the door to her jeep. Five minutes later, she pulled up in front of Liam’s hotel.

He shook his head as he strolled toward her. “I never thought I’d see the day you overslept.”

“Me either.” She laughed. “I really needed the sleep, though. What do we have?”

“Body of a woman in a very unflattering pose on a park bench.”

She frowned. “Our killer?”

He shrugged. “The former assassin liked to pose the victims in humble poses. Maybe this one is doing something similar. If, it’s our killer. We don’t know that yet.”