“Good job, Detective,” Valentine murmured. He didn’t look even a little worried. “There just might be a hero in you yet.”
Pull the trigger. The temptation whispered through Dane’s mind. One quick pull, and everything would be over.
His gaze held Valentine’s. Do it. The challenge seemed to be right there, but that didn’t make any sense. Valentine was fighting to get the death penalty off the table. So why would he also be pushing for death-by-cop?
“Bring Katherine Cole in here, now!” Meadows yelled. He pointed his finger, a shaking finger, at Harley. “And get the captain out of here.”
Smith and Forrest were only too happy to comply.
Dane didn’t move. He wasn’t sure he could. Shoot the bastard.
“Detective, you need to step back,” Meadows told him.
Yes, he supposed that was what he needed to do.
“Want to pull that trigger, don’t you?” Valentine whispered to him.
“Yes.” His own voice was just as soft. The captain was gone. Only Dane, Mac, and Meadows were in that room.
“Making a deal with him will be a mistake,” Mac rasped.
“And if I don’t,” Meadows said, “then a man I’ve known for twenty years will probably eat his gun before the night’s over.”
Yes, Harley would.
More footsteps were heading toward them. Not heavy this time. Light.
Valentine’s nostrils flared, as if he were drinking in a scent.
“Dane?” Shock coated Katherine’s voice.
Because he had a gun at Valentine’s forehead.
“She’s seeing you for what you are,” Valentine told him with a flash of that maddening grin.
Jaw locked, Dane stepped back. He shoved the gun into the empty holster under his left shoulder.
“Ms. Cole,” Meadows began. “I’m very sorry to bring you in.”
“Don’t be sorry.” Her gaze swept the room. Lingered on Dane. Didn’t even glance at Valentine. “What has he done?”
There wasn’t time for sugarcoating. No time. No point. “Two people are missing. Valentine says he has them.”
She finally glanced at Valentine. “Do you?”
His eyes changed, flashing with an emotion—and not that smug confidence he’d shown since coming to the station. “Yes.”
“Who did you take?” she asked as she made her way to stand at Dane’s side. Her shoulder brushed his arm.
Valentine’s gaze darted down. Narrowed as he studied the point where they touched. Another emotion. Anger.
Katherine was definitely the man’s trigger. But they’d known that all along.
He just hadn’t wanted to use her again. He’d wanted the nightmare to be over for her.
“The marshal.” Valentine’s shoes rocked back and forth on the floor. “That bastard should have protected you—it was his job. Instead, you almost died in that café when Evelyn drugged you.”
“That wasn’t Ross’s fault. He didn’t know that Evelyn was a threat. He was supposed to protect me—from you.” Katherine’s voice was quiet. As calm as Valentine had been before. Before she came into the room and the guy lit up like a Christmas tree.
Valentine licked his lips. “You’ve changed, Kat.”
Her eyelids lowered as she pressed even closer to Dane’s body. “Who else did you take?”
Valentine exhaled, as if annoyed. “Margaret Dunning. The police’s captain’s spoiled bitch of a daughter.”
“Watch your mouth,” Mac snapped.
Valentine couldn’t seem to look away from Katherine. Dane stepped forward and deliberately put his body in front of hers.
Oh yeah, that was rage flaring in the man’s eyes.
“Maggie Dunning is already dead,” Dane said flatly.
Meadows swore behind him. Like Dane, the DA must have thought that Harley was watching from the observation room. By this point, Dane was pretty sure that room had to be packed.
“Not yet, she isn’t,” Valentine snapped back. “But you just keep wasting my time.”
“And we’re supposed to believe the serial killer?” Mac said.
Valentine spared Mac an annoyed glance. He hadn’t lunged to his feet. Hadn’t attacked. “Why would I lie?”
Why would you tell the truth? “To save your own skin,” Dane told him, fighting to keep a tight rein on his own fury. This was the man who’d made Katherine’s life hell. The man who’d killed and tortured so many women. “You’d say anything to avoid getting a needle in your arm.” He kept his arms loose at his sides, a fake pose because his body was tight with battle-ready tension.
“You keep wasting so much time.” Valentine sighed. “But if you just want more deaths on you, that’s fine with me.”
“So you admit to murdering Trent Lancaster?” Dane fired out the question. Valentine had said that Evelyn confessed to killing Savannah and Amy, and that fit—those victims had been drugged with the fentanyl.
The drug that Evelyn had used on both Katherine and Ronnie.
But no fentanyl had been found in Trent Lancaster’s tox screen.
After a moment, Valentine nodded.
“Say it,” Dane snarled. “Admit what you did.”
Katherine stepped forward, putting her body next to Dane’s.
Valentine’s eyes found hers once more. His face seemed to soften as he stared at her. “You aren’t damaged, Kat. I knew what he’d said. I knew how he talked to you. He didn’t deserve to be anywhere near you.”
Katherine’s breath rushed out. “You shoved a knife into his chest and you left him for me to find.”
“He was a present.”
“A dead body isn’t the kind of present that I wanted!”
Valentine’s eyes slid over her. “You needed to know that someone was looking out for you. I didn’t want you to worry that you’d be a target.” His voice dropped. “Never you. That’s why I stayed in the gallery, so you’d understand.”
“Is that why you killed Evelyn?” Dane asked. If the idiot wanted to talk, he’d let the guy bury himself. “Because she was targeting Katherine?”
“She tried to kill my Kat. She was dead the minute I knew.” He sucked in a breath, as if trying to regain his control. “Besides, Evelyn thought she was something that she wasn’t.”
“And what was that?” Dane pushed.
“Good enough for me. Only one woman has ever been good enough.” His shoulders rolled back. “For a shrink, the woman was pretty fucking crazy.”
It takes a psycho to recognize one.
“And you set the bomb to explode at the house on Oakland?” Now it was Meadows asking the question. The guy had composed himself a bit. Good.
Valentine focused on Katherine. “I knew you’d make the right choice.”
“You almost killed a dozen cops!” Her cheeks had flushed a dark pink.
“You could have let them all burn. Could have just killed me and let them burn.”
“That wasn’t a choice for me. Saving them was the only option.”
Valentine lunged to his feet.
Dane and Mac both yanked out their guns.
But Valentine made no move to attack. He just stared at Katherine. “That’s why you’re different. You keep choosing life, when you should choose death. When you were fifteen, you should have let that bitch die in that car without a backward glance. And at Oakland, you should have laughed and watched the fire as the cops burned.” He shook his head. “How? How do you do it? Didn’t you want to hurt your mother? Didn’t a little part of you want to see that house burn with all those bastards inside?”
Valentine jerked his head toward Dane. “He understands. He killed his old man, did you know that? Dane wanted him to die. Why are you different from him? From me?”
Katherine moved toward him. Dane put his arm in front of her, but she shoved it away. “Take me to Maggie and Ross, and I’ll tell you why. Take us to them now, get us there while they are still alive, and I’ll tell you.”
Valenti
ne’s eyes lit up. “Deal.”
Take me to Margaret and Ross.
“I haven’t agreed to take the death penalty off the table,” Meadows said, sounding a bit strained, “but you just promised to take us to the missing victims.”
“Yes, I did…as long as Kat goes with me.” Valentine’s gaze swept the small circle in the room. “Kat. Dane, and Mac. Just them. No one else.”
Meadows shook his head. “No dice, no—”
“You really think your two detectives aren’t competent enough to keep me in check? Even handcuffed?” Valentine looked sad for them. “And here I thought the New Orleans PD was supposed to be tough.”
“We’re tough,” Dane agreed. “Not stupid.” The guy wanted them out of the station. Who the hell knew where he’d lead them?
“Then get a helicopter to do aerial surveillance on us as we move.” Valentine sighed. “Get your eyes in the sky to keep track of us, if that makes you all feel better, but do it fast. Based on my rather extensive experience with death, I’d say one of our missing has only about an hour to live, maybe less.” Then he pursed his lips thoughtfully. “The chopper should probably be one of those medevac units. Because once you find the victims, they’ll need immediate medical care.”
Shit.
“Deal,” Meadows said, sealing their fates.
Mac shoved Valentine back in his chair. The interrogation room door opened. As uniformed cops spilled inside for guard duty, Dane followed Katherine toward the door. He wanted her out of there. Meadows was hurrying behind him.
They all wanted away from the grim reaper.
“Oh, Meadows?” Valentine’s voice called after them.
Dane glanced back. So did Meadows.
“You are taking the death penalty off the table.”
Meadows laughed. “Your dumb mistake. I told you, that wasn’t part of the deal for Ross and Margaret.”
“No, not their deal. But if you want to know the locations of the other bodies, then you’ll make sure I live for a very, very long time.”
The other bodies.
“You didn’t honestly think I gave up killing in the last three years, did you? I’m sure the profiler told you that a guy like me can’t just go cold turkey. He would have been right on that one point.” A chilling pause. “There are bodies. Lots of them. And I’ll give them to you…once you give me a deal to sign for my life.”
The sonofabitch. He was just playing them. Every moment, every word. It was all a game.
Dane took Katherine’s arm. Led her away. Didn’t stop when other detectives called out to him. He hurried down the hallway, practically dragging her with him. He needed her alone. Had to talk to her without all the eyes and ears on them.
He shoved open a door on their right. The same room. The same room where he’d taken her frantically hours before. Because he hadn’t been able to keep his hands off her. Because he’d needed her.
He’d been afraid of losing her. Of death. He’d been rough and hard. Always too rough and hard.
She’d deserved more. Better. Romance. Courting. Not a fast screw in an old cop room.
“Katherine…”
She shut the door, then stood in front of him, her body brushing against his.
There was so much to say to her, and he didn’t even know where to start.
He stared into her eyes and wondered if he looked as obsessed as Valentine. Because he felt the same way. Like she was everything. That she was the one he had to protect from every threat. Everyone.
Have to protect her, even from myself.
Fuck, what if Valentine was right? What if he was more like the guy than he’d believed?
I’ve killed. I’d do it again in a heartbeat to protect her. When Valentine had risen from that chair, he’d imagined himself blowing the man’s brains out.
It would be so easy.
And what will happen when we go out of the station with him? It’s going to be a trap, I know it will be.
“Don’t go,” Dane said, because, maybe, those were the only words that mattered. Don’t go with us to find Ross and Margaret. Don’t put yourself at risk. “Stay at the station. We’ll bring them back.”
Alive? Doubtful. Valentine was just going to take them to find the dead bodies. If he even led them to the bodies.
“If I don’t go, you won’t find them.” Her voice was soft but certain. “He wants me there. He wants me to see what he’s done.”
“Fuck what he wants.” His fingers curled around her shoulders. “I want you safe.”
“And I want to be strong.” Her chin lifted as her eyes flashed golden fire. “I don’t want these deaths on me. I want to save someone.”
She was so beautiful he ached. “They’re already dead. He’s going to take us into the middle of nowhere, he’ll try to escape, and I’ll shoot him in the head.” That was how this would end. “He wants you to see me as a killer, and he’s setting it up so that there is no other option, no choice for any of us.”
“There’s always a choice,” Katherine whispered. “Even if it looks like there isn’t.” Then she rose onto her toes and put her mouth against his. Her lips were soft, the caress so very light. Intimate. Loving.
I love her.
He realized the truth in that instant. It wasn’t just an obsession. Not for him. He wanted her safe. He wanted her happy. And he never wanted her to fear monsters in the world ever again.
To keep her alive and happy, Dane realized that he’d give up everything.
Her arms twined around his neck. “I won’t ever see you as a killer. You’re a cop, you protect.”
And I kill.
“I want you to know me as I am.” He didn’t want lies between them. No false images. She’d had all that before. “I killed my father when I was seventeen. I could have let the bastard live. Could have gotten him tossed in jail.” Not choices he’d made. “I killed him.” When his father had been coming at him with that bottle, Dane had known one thing with utter certainty…He’s not walking away. He won’t ever hurt me again. Even if his father hadn’t fallen down those stairs, he would have been a dead man.
She backed away, just a few inches, and gazed up at him. “Is that supposed to change the way I feel?”
“See me as I am!” Valentine knew. He was going to use that truth against them all.
“I do.” Soft, when his words had been so angry and hard. “I see a man who is brave and strong. A man who makes me feel safe, even when I’m surrounded by death. A man who makes me feel alive, when I thought I was already dead.”
“Stay here,” he said again, the words growling out.
“No. I want to be with you. I want to finish this, with you.”
He felt like she was breaking him. This time, he was the one to kiss her. And Dane knew she needed gentleness. Knew that she deserved care, but he was too afraid.
Afraid for her.
He pulled her against him. His mouth crashed down on hers. His tongue thrust into her mouth. Desperation drove him.
Finally found her. Can’t lose her. Can’t.
Was that the way Valentine felt? Like his whole damn world began and ended with her?
If something happened to Katherine, just how far would Dane go to get vengeance? Just what would he do?
I don’t want to find out.
He tried to gentle the kiss. Couldn’t. Tried to get his hands to let her go. Couldn’t.
He’d never wanted another woman with this intensity. When he’d seen Valentine in that office, Dane’s first instinct hadn’t been to tell the guy to freeze. To tell him to drop his gun.
I wanted to shoot. To take him out of Katherine’s life forever. The squeeze of his trigger would have done it. I fucking should have done it.
He wore the badge for a reason. But he’d been ready to toss it away. Was still ready.
Katherine’s fingers pressed lightly against his shoulders. Her mouth was moving softly beneath his, caressing his lips, and the frantic drumming of his heartbeat slowly fa
ded.
Another kiss. Finally, softer, and his head lifted. Being close to her made him feel stronger.
He reached into his holster and pulled out the gun.
– 20 –
Dane tucked the gun into Katherine’s hand. “If this goes south, if Valentine tries anything, don’t hesitate to shoot him.”
“I didn’t hesitate before,” Katherine reminded him.
Dane’s fingers brushed back her hair. “I didn’t expect you.”
Her brows lifted even as she tucked the gun into the back waistband of her jeans. She pulled her shirt down, covering the weapon. “I didn’t exactly expect you, either.” But she was sure glad she’d found him.
His handsome face was tense, his eyes so deep.
“Do you trust me, Katherine?”
Trust. It was the one thing she’d never thought she’d be able to give a man again. But Dane…“Yes.” There was no hesitation with her answer.
His blue eyes seemed to burn. “I swear, I won’t let you down.”
“I know.” But did he understand what she was telling him? For her, there was no difference between trusting Dane and loving him. She trusted because she loved.
He’d gotten to her. Slipped past her ice and taught her that it was okay to feel again.
“Whatever happens,” he told her, fingers warm against her chilled cheek, “you can count on me.”
She smiled up at him. “I know.” She’d known it for a while now. Her true-blue cop.
No, it wasn’t the cop part that she cared about. She just cared about him.
Dane looked like he wanted to say more. She wanted him to say more. But he just gave a grim nod and reached around her for the door.
Um, no. She slammed the door shut. “That’s it?”
A muscle jerked in his jaw.
“Do better than this,” she told him, anger roughening her words because they both deserved more. “Don’t shut me out. Tell me.” Because she wanted to hear the words. Sometimes a girl needed them.
“You already know.”
Katherine shook her head. “Not good enough. I want to hear them. Before anything else happens.”
His pupils had grown, nearly swallowing the blue of his eyes. “Katherine Cole, I love you.”