I See You (30 page)

The cause of the fire has yet to be established but we can confirm we are looking at suspected arson and an investigation is underway. The ongoing search is now in place for Devon Trent. Any information please contact 080-3331-101

“I also got a hit with Devon registering with Dr. Hammond, but nothing after the fire article or before he came here,” Brady adds but then lifts a brow at me. “We also have a hit on the small blood sample found a few meters from where the bodies were found at the lake. You ready for this?”

“Just tell me,” I demand, already putting on my jacket to go see Dr. Hammond.

“The sample matches one taken from a brutal rape at a home in Kansas. The victim . . .”

“Nina Drake,” I breathe, finishing his sentence.

“Yeah. How did you know that?”

I rush past him, shouting for him to follow me.

The drive takes seven minutes, and in those minutes Brady hasn’t shut up about all the horrible things that pig did to Nina. I hate that he read her file. She’d be mortified if she knew. It physically hurts me knowing what she went through, and how incredible she is to have survived and keep on surviving every day since.

“They had to remove her womb, the damage was so intense.” He shakes his head in disgust.

I want to be wrong about Devon. Despite the growing fondness I have for Nina, I’ll gladly keep it to myself, buried under the rubble of shit I can’t control and watch her be happy from afar so long as she’s happy and safe. But the clawing instincts inside me tell me I’m not wrong. They see something lurking in Devon’s eyes, a darkness seen only in men lacking souls.

“Sheriff Logan.” Dr. Hammond smiles warmly in welcome. “Not a health call, I hope?”

I smile at the doctor who saw me through my very accident-prone adolescence and shake my head. “I actually need to ask you if you took any blood from a Devon Trent.”

Her brow raises and she looks to her receptionist, whose eyes widen a little. “Come into my office, Luke.”

I follow her inside. She goes straight to her filing cabinet. “I was just telling Lori, my receptionist, she’s way behind uploading the blood work to the patient files and how important is it to have them on record. The lab still has the sample. I can call them for you if you like, and release the blood work?”

“That would great, thank you.”

I radio through to Gerry at the office and tell him to get in touch with the lab to cross reference the blood samples found at the murder scene with the one the surgery sent in.

Brady’s voice comes over the radio. “Logan, I’m coming in. I have something.”

“Copy that,” I reply, and offer an apologetic smile at Dr. Hammond.

“The information has just been uploaded but here are the files in case you need them. Is there something wrong with Mr. Trent? He appeared troubled, I must admit.” She hands me his file.

Brady rushes through the door without knocking. “The partial print just flagged up on the system, a match. It’s him, Luke, that Devon guy. Nina’s boyfriend is the same person who killed them, who raped her.”

A gasp sounds out into the room from Dr. Hammond and I want to chastise him for being so careless with information in front of civilians, but I understand his shock and outburst. My insides are coiling and preparing myself for what’s to come.

“Slow down. Tell me what happened.”

“The system in the office is running slow and it took a while to connect the prints. The one from Devon that I uploaded today matches the partial taken from the dead girl’s locket at Point Rose Lake.” He’s out of breath, the urgent look in his eyes matching my own.

“I need you to go back to the station, arm yourself, and call in everyone available then meet me at Devon’s house.”

“You can’t go there alone, Luke!”

“Brady, just do what I tell you. I need to go get Nina.”

M
Y BLOOD IS PUMPING FAST
from the wound but the pain is overruled by the fear of him hurting Luke. “Devon’s crazy and he has a knife!” I scream out in hope to warn him from coming in without precaution.

“You’ll pay for that betrayal, Nina.”

Everything happens so quickly, the terror raging my body and the loss of blood making everything blurry and unrefined, like I’m watching a movie play out at the cinema. The tip of a gun comes through the side door, both of Luke’s hands wrapped around it firmly as his body comes in to view. His eyes are everywhere as he searches his surroundings, then when he sees me they widen and he rushes forwards.

I shake my head frantically, the only vocal warning I can manage is a whimper as I try and prevent him from letting his guard down, but it’s too late. The need to come to me overrules everything he’s been taught and before a warning scream can rip from my chest, Devon grabs Luke’s arm, causing the gun to drop and skid across the floor. I watch in horror when, with quick jabs to Luke’s abdomen before he can even react, Devon stabs him multiple times then steps away from him. Bewilderment furrows Luke’s brow, clouded confusion in his eyes as he looks down at his stomach and watches the beige cotton of his shirt spread out with dots of crimson soaking through, staining everywhere. His legs buckle and he looks over at me with so much sorrow. “I’m sorry,” he breathes.

I cry out, my scream a choked sob of panic when I can do nothing but watch the extent of Devon’s evil unfold before me. I cry and try to crawl over to Luke, my own wound hindering my need to help my friend. He’s a good man. He’s going to die because of me, because I was too blind to see the immorality living inside Devon.

“Aww, how nice. The Sheriff’s sweet on my brother’s girl.” Devon sneers, the ice in his eyes freezing my soul when he mocks me. “He can watch me dismantle you before he bleeds out.”

His footsteps pound the floor towards me, each vibration ricocheting through my heart as I try to scramble away. He grabs my ankles and yanks me across the floor until I’m only a couple of feet from Luke, whose hand leaves his bleeding stomach to reach out for me. The blood from his hand drips across the floor, each drop thundering in my ears like an earthquake. My jeans are ripped from my body and all I can do is focus on Luke’s eyes as a tear runs down the side of his nose. He growls when my panties are cut from me, the knife digging into the flesh and leaving a deep burning cut.

“Your cunt looks a lot prettier then I left it, Nina. Let’s see how inventive I can be this time.”

Luke’s eyes lift, followed by his eyebrows, and I track their stare to his gun. I inhale a breath and reach for it. Pain slices through my palm and I cry out in both agony and hopelessness when Devon’s knife impales my hand and pins me to the floor, the deep hue of my blood mixing with Luke’s when it spreads like a river across the lightwood floor.

Devon laughs coldly, his delight merciless and punishing as his eyes dance with manic excitement. But it’s short lived when a fist collides with the side of his face and the sound pitching from Luke as he digs deep for enough strength to make a second blow is heart wrenching.

I take the chance to reach up with my other hand and grab the gun, my body twisting abnormally as strength and determination drives me. A cry of relief leaves me as the heavy metal handle graces my palm. I rotate my body and aim the gun right at the forehead of the man I love. He’s leaning over me with mystification written all over his features. His eyes are unfocused and searching, his mouth open and his brow pinched tightly together.

“What’s happening?” he pleads, and I know it’s Devon looking down at me, his love for me once more strong and full.

He looks down my body, his eyes widening on my naked and bleeding legs. Confusion morphs his handsome face before realization sinks in and the look of horror and self-abhorrence makes me want to cry out. Then he looks across at Luke dying. Tears spring in his eyes and he releases a distraught scream, every ache he ever felt, every rejection he ever faced and every false memory bursting from him in the most torturous cry. He knows. He understands finally.

Gently, his hands cup around mine and he holds them there with the gun at his head. My tears are as fluid as his, both our hearts breaking as one when he whispers, “I love you, Nina. Believe me, believe that I always loved you, since the day I first saw you. Don’t let me take your beauty, or your soul.”

He smiles so softly as his finger slips over mine and he squeezes.

Three months later

“H
EY.” HEATHER SMILES AT ME
as she walks through the door. There are tears in her eyes. This is the first time we have ever been physically face to face.

I stand from the couch in her waiting room. “Hi.”

For some reason, we’re both emotional and my tears are as fluid as hers as we embrace, for the first time able to touch and smell each other.

“Goodness me.” She laughs as she whips us both a tissue from the box on her receptionist’s desk. “Come on in.” She grins at me.

It seems strange looking around her room in real life instead of through a laptop screen. She gestures to one of the comfy armchairs and I sit. “Tea, coffee or water? Although I feel like we should be drinking champagne.”

I laugh and nod. “Coffee is fine.” It feels like I’m having a catch up and coffee with a girlfriend and I’m surprised by how relaxed I already am in Heather’s presence, but then again, we have been talking every week for eighteen months. It’s no wonder we’re close. She knows things about me that no one ever knew before.