Page 70 of The Grave Artist (Sanchez & Heron #2)

She wasn’t a bodybuilder, but rage had given her the strength to drag Damon’s limp form out of the shed’s rear door and into a shallow arroyo, where she dumped him, face up, and duct-taped his feet. Then his wrists.

Immobile. He couldn’t climb out.

There was no Bronco, and no burro either. There was nothing in the shed but trash, a three-legged table and a washing machine that had spun its last load a decade ago. This property was as abandoned as property could be.

She squatted and looked down, studying him.

Damon groaned and tried to sit. Impossible.

He gazed at her, disbelief in his eyes. “No,” he whispered. “I don’t understand.”

“You will.”

“What the hell, Maddie?”

“Madison,” she corrected, then enunciated the word slowly, changing the pronunciation, emphasizing each component. “Mad-eyes-on, get it?”

He blinked. “No.”

“There have been eyes on you, Damon. My mad eyes. Watching you.” She smiled. “And the last name, Willis. That comes out to Will-is. My will is for you to die.”

“What the fuck?”

She saw fear creeping into his expression and laughed. Tormenting him was delicious.

“So that’s not my real name. But the pun just came to me, and I went with it. ‘Mad.’ Although maybe I’m perfectly sane and the world’s gone mad. Since a person, a thing like you, is part of that world.”

He looked her over with an expression that was both contemptuous and wounded. “Okay, you racked your brain and came up with something clever. Good. There’s a reason. Please ...” His voice cracked. “Please, help me out. We can talk this through.”

“Partly right. I’ll talk. You listen.”

His expression changed to one of bewilderment as he tried to piece it together. This was the moment she’d been waiting for. The moment when she could finally speak her truth.

When she could confront the monster.

His brows drew together. “But why are you doing this?”

“Notice I hit you over the head with a rock?”

He simply stared.

“Because that’s what you did to my brother when you murdered him last Saturday.” She leaned in close. “My real name is Lauren Brock.”