Total pages in book: 88
Estimated words: 81358 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 407(@200wpm)___ 325(@250wpm)___ 271(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 81358 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 407(@200wpm)___ 325(@250wpm)___ 271(@300wpm)
A chill skittered along his spine. The killer had been so close. Could still lurking nearby. He didn’t know. It wasn’t like he’d checked any of the rooms. He’d found the body and retreated to the first floor because he didn’t think there was any need to babysit a corpse while he was waiting for the police.
But why leave it for discovery and then move it again?
“Tony, look here. Blood.”
Devlin’s head popped up at one of the cops’ words. He turned from where he’d been talking to one officer and looked where the other cop was pointing while leaning over the tub. There was a long smear of blood.
“That from you?” the cop with the rich black hair asked as he made another note on his pad of paper.
“No, definitely not. It has to be from the body.”
The two cops exchanged a look. Yeah, Devlin knew it wasn’t a lot to go on, and his entire story was incredibly weird, but they had to investigate now. A series of calls were made, and even more police officers, detectives, and investigators filed inside.
Devlin stepped out onto the front porch and made a call to the security company that monitored his house while every inch of his home was searched.
After nearly four hours of searching, note-taking, picture-snapping, and endless questions, the police filed back out again. The body was never found. There was no evidence of another person being there other than the security system being disabled while he was gone, which Devlin could luckily prove with a few phone calls.
The only useful thing the police found was that the screen had been removed from the window in his bathroom, and several branches of a bush beneath it were crushed and smeared with blood. It looked like the culprit had briefly dumped the body in the bushes as it was moved in and out of the house.
And, of course, since it was a lovely Saturday in June, none of his neighbors had been home to see this interesting event. But they were lucky enough to return in time to see the police parade in and out of Devlin’s place.
It was after nine in the evening when he finally sat alone, the security system engaged with a new password. He splashed a little more whiskey into his glass, but he didn’t really want it. Didn’t want anything that would mess with his brain’s ability to figure out this tangled puzzle.
Why would someone leave a dead man in his bathtub? Particularly someone he’d never met. If it were meant as a threat to him, wouldn’t the killer have murdered someone he knew?
And then, why remove the body before the cops could see it? Was someone trying to make him look insane?
But the cops believed him. At least, they believed there had been a body. He wasn’t so sure they didn’t think he was crazy.
Sitting on the couch with his elbows resting on his legs, Devlin’s eyes shifted to the cell phone beside his drink. He knew of only three people who dealt in dead bodies like the murder victim that had been in his tub, and he still had the phone numbers for two of them. Luckily, he was on good terms with them. He didn’t think they were behind the dead body.
The third person…he wasn’t so sure of.
Grabbing the whiskey, he threw back the shot he’d poured, wincing at the burn down his throat and across his chest. He picked up his cell phone and selected a name from the contact information he hadn’t thought he’d need to call for something like this. It was only after it was ringing that he considered the time. It was after ten in Colorado, and that was assuming they were home.
“Dev! It’s great to hear from you!” Justin Mallory’s happy voice burst across the speaker, and Devlin found himself reluctantly smiling. How this happy, funny guy could be a deadly assassin was beyond him.
Except, he’d gotten a glimpse of Justin in action and it was damn scary. The man was a very effective killer when he needed to be.
And a perfect match for his even scarier husband, Gabriel Prescott.
About a year and a half ago, Devlin had managed to get a contract placed on his head to stop him from creating a new battery of all things. For reasons he still didn’t fully understand, Justin and Gabriel had swooped in and protected him and his son. What’s more, they’d remained friends even after the danger had passed.
“Hey, Justin. Sorry to call so late.”
“No worries! It’s no problem at all. How have you been? How’s Jake?”
Devlin’s smile faded, and he shoved his free hand through his hair. “I’m good. We’re both good. Jake just left for summer camp.” He started to drop into dad mode—talking about his son, camp, and the trials of not having him around for two whole weeks—but managed to catch himself at the last minute. He needed to stay focused. “Look, Justin, I’ve got a strange problem that I could use your advice on.”