Sagittarius (Zodiac Killers Book 13) Read online

  “You’re funny,” she said.

  “The only thing funnier is that it’s true.”

  “You’ve got a wife and a girlfriend?” she asked.

  “No, the girlfriend is dead. She died right in front of me several days ago. I watched the life drain slowly from her eyes.”

  The girl froze, and for the first time since she walked back in to look for her pencil, she didn’t have anything to say. That was fine. Bay wasn’t interested in what she had to say.

  He pushed her back onto his desk, allowing her to face him just so he could look in her eyes as he defiled her. He centered himself at her core and thrust into her sweet slit. She let her head loll back and her eyes close.

  Bay pounded her hard, and while she had looked terrified, she got into it, and that told Bay she was going to comply with him as needed. Nothing like a little fear to make shit interesting.

  He pulled out to shoot his load across her tits, and his phone made a sound that was just for Rose Marie. Bay stood up and left his cock hanging out while he answered. “Yeah? What is it?”

  “You need to come home. Mila is here.” Rose Marie’s voice had an anxious tone as she spoke of his mother-in-law.

  “What’s the matter now?” he asked, annoyed.

  “She’s pissed that Lila told her about Mia over the phone, and she wants answers.”

  “Fuck, why would Lila tell her about it on the goddamned phone? Even I had the decency to tell her about Mia’s death in person. She knew that would be a mess.”

  “She thought her mother should know,” Rose Marie said. “I can’t reason with her, but you should get here as fast as you can. I’m afraid they’re going to start throwing things at one another.”

  In the background, Bay could hear the sound of muffled arguing, and he knew it had gotten worse. Mila was the worst mother, and not only had she upset Lila, but she was endangering his child as well.

  “I’m on my way.” He slammed the phone down. Marlena’s face was pale as she stood there with Mia’s panties in her hand.

  “You weren’t joking? About the girlfriend?” She looked at Bay with the contempt of someone who hadn’t just spread her legs for him but would rather see him dead.

  “Yeah, you should get back to work.” He gathered his things, along with the photo that he needed to prove what he’d learned, and headed out behind Marlena.

  She looked terrified as Bay got into the elevator with her, and he did her a favor and kept his distance as if he were a stranger. Once the elevator stopped, she hurried toward the door and made a break for it as Bay walked calmly out into the lobby.

  His drive home was shorter than usual since he sped most of the way. Thankfully, traffic was running smoother than normal. He pulled up to his house about twenty minutes later, and when he made it inside, he heard the shatter of glass.

  He threw the door open to catch Mila with his other twin vase over her head. She’d already broken the other one, and he waited to see if she had the guts to smash it in front of him.

  “You’re in trouble now,” said Lila, with big fat tears running down her face.

  “I want to know what happened to my baby,” asked Mila with the vase over her head. “I want to know who killed her.” The woman’s speech slurred, and Bay could tell that she’d probably been drinking since she’d heard the news. He wondered how the airline let her fly in such a state.

  “I’d like to know that too,” he said. “Rest assured. I’m taking care of things.”

  Mila’s rage brought forth a loud, piercing scream. “You’re the cause of this, Bay Collins. You pissed off the wrong person, and they went after my little angel. I always knew you’d kill her. Who’s next? Me? Lila? The baby?”

  Lila stood at the bottom of the stairs as if she were ready to make a break for it if she had to. Rose Marie was across the room, quietly looking out the window.

  “I’m sure once you sleep it off, you’ll find your manners,” he said, jerking the vase so hard from her hands that she nearly fell. “You don’t come into my house, with my pregnant wife and the woman I call mother, and act like a drunken fool, smashing my shit.” He put the vase down calmly and grabbed her arm, squeezing it tightly. “I’m on it.” He looked her right in the eyes and gave a stern look.

  Tears spilled from Mila’s eyes. “She was my baby, Bay. I loved her. I really did. I can’t ever make up for the mother I was and the mother I wasn’t.”

  “Too bad you didn’t think of that while you were whoring around, island-hopping with strange men. You should have been there for Lila and come home with her. The two of you are all you have now.” He hoped if he talked some sense to her, she’d close her fucking mouth and calm down.

  “I know,” she said as he guided her to the sofa. “I’m so sorry, Bay. It was just a shock, you know? A terrible shock, and then Lila said she didn’t know who did it or how.” She was a total train wreck, but then, that was to be expected.

  He didn’t have time for this shit and wished she’d just pass out already. He looked over at Lila. “Go to bed. You shouldn’t be down here arguing with her. Rose Marie, I’ll need a moment of your time.”

  Lila didn’t wait around. She went upstairs as she was told and didn’t look back. But her mother wasn’t finished.

  “What about me?” she asked, grabbing his arm. “I need your time, Bay. I need answers.”

  “You need to go to bed too. Sober up, and we’ll talk.”

  Mila waited for Rose Marie to walk down the hall to his office before she spoke again, still clinging to his arm, “Bay, who did this to our angel? I know you loved that girl. I know you and her were something. I haven’t been able to look Lila in the face for knowing.”

  “What does it matter now, Mila?” He gave her a hard stare. “You didn’t have any problems looking Lila in the face when I was fucking you. It’s not any different.”

  She grabbed hold of his collar and leaned in closer. “I need you. You know what I mean, Bay. I hoped that since Mia can’t comfort you, there’d be a chance we could—” Her hand snaked down his front to cup his cock, which was limp as a wet rag from her display.

  “You really think I’d want you like this?” he asked. “Come on, Mila. Even you know I have my standards, and I never fuck a sloppy drunk. Sleep it off, and we’ll talk.” The hope in her eyes was a new low, but Bay had no room to judge her. As she let go of his arm, she leaned in and kissed his cheek.

  “I’m sorry, lover.” She walked away, looking back once to give him a seductive look.

  As he walked down the hall to join Rose Marie, Bay couldn’t believe how much he missed Mia and how absolutely normal she was compared to the two women she’d left behind.

  Rose Marie sat on the sofa across the room from his desk. “That one is a whole lot of trouble. She’s going to spill her guts, and you’re going to be in a pickle with Lila if you’re not careful. And I’d watch where you stick that cock of yours too.” Rose Marie was always there to tell him how it was. “You can only manipulate a crazy person so much before it comes back to hit you in the face. And fucking Mila now would be a mistake.”

  “She’s distraught. I’ll manage her. And if I can’t, I’ll come up with something.” He walked to the desk and took the photo out of his pocket. “I didn’t want to talk to you about her. I wanted to give you this. It’s a copy of a photo that came through today.” He jotted down some notes and folded it back up. “Keep it close.”

  Rose Marie’s brow furrowed. “Why?”

  Bay was glad she asked. He was about to explain everything. But before he could, a message came through his phone. The deed was done. Max was dead.

  Chapter 3

  Darek

  The crime scene investigators were doing a final check of the house. Lizzy stood near the blood-soaked sofa, looking over her notes.

  Her hair, which had been perfectly done up in a loose bun, looked like she had been in a cat fight. Most of her hair hung freely in her face, and the clip she’d used grip
ped on for dear life. Her pants had wrinkled from wear, and her blouse was untucked, except for where her gun was strapped on. Somehow, she still looked like a million bucks.

  He hadn’t realized he was lost in a daze until he felt a tap on his shoulder. “Excuse me, Detective?”

  Darek was standing in the way of the men who were carrying the last few boxes of evidence to their van. “Sorry,” he said. Lizzy joined him and let out a long breath. “I’m going home now.”

  “Take me back to the office first,” she said. “I’ll let you drive. I’m exhausted.”

  “Okay, are you going to come over later?”

  She reached up and stroked his cheek, giving him a strange look. “Darek, we just had this conversation earlier.”

  “We did?” His heart beat a little faster with the confusion.

  She nodded. “Yeah, and I told you I’d have to see. I have so much to do. I’m not sure coming over would be best, but I said I’d think about it. Don’t you remember?”

  He didn’t remember talking to her about that at all. How long had he checked out for? Things like that happened sometimes, but only when he needed a higher dose of the medication he was taking.

  “I guess I remember,” he said. “Sorry, I just really wanted you to come.” He moved closer and pulled her into his arms, despite the fact that there were others still lingering at the scene.

  “Darek, don’t.” She glanced over her shoulder. “Do you want Reed to show up and find us, or how about one of these rookies telling on us for brownie points? You know he could have eyes everywhere.”

  Darek thought it was strange that she could pick and choose when to show a bit of PDA, but he just had to grin and bear it. “Fine,” he said, holding up his hands and stepping back. “Hands off. Are you ready?”

  “Yeah, when you are.”

  They walked out to the car together, and Lizzy stopped to tell the remaining officers that they were leaving. Darek got in and started the Rover. He liked driving her car and was surprised she was going to let him.

  She opened the door and got in, and as soon as her seatbelt was buckled, Darek headed back to the station. On the way, she eased her seat back a little and let out a sigh. “I could go to sleep here and now,” she said. “It’s going to be a long night. I can just feel it.”

  “And not the long night I’d like it to be,” he said with a hint of resentment in his voice. He needed her, and not just to make him emotionally better, but physically as well. There was nothing quite like sex to take his mind off of the world around him.

  “Oh no, now comes the pouting.” She covered her ears. “You have to promise not to do that.”

  “Fine, no touching and no pouting about it. I get it. I just don’t like it.”

  “And you still don’t get it,” she said. “But I don’t feel like arguing.”

  He didn’t either, so he shut his mouth on the way back to the station. Who cared if he needed her? Not her. And that was just fine and fucking dandy with him. He pulled into the parking lot at the station, and she got out of the car without a word. He followed, but only long enough to go to his car.

  “Hey,” she said. “Aren’t you coming in?”

  “Nah, I’m going to head home.”

  “Darek, come on. Get a coffee with me. You need to wake up a bit before you head home anyway. You’re beginning to worry me.”

  He frowned. “Why? Because I’m sleepy?”

  “No, because you said you wanted to grab a coffee, and now, you’re acting like I’m losing my mind.”

  “I said I wanted coffee?” he asked. “When was that?” He didn’t think he’d said or suggested anything of the sort. All he remembered was wanting to get home to bed. Coffee didn’t even factor into his needs. But in case he really was forgetting things, he shrugged and followed her. “Okay, so looks like I’m getting coffee.”

  “Are you sure you’re okay?” she asked with concern in her voice.

  “I’m just tired.” And paranoid about a fucking spoon and if Bay carried out his plans or not. “I’ll be okay once I have some coffee and get on my way. Although it’d be really fucking great if you came home with me.”

  “Darek, stop.” She let out a long sigh as they headed inside the station.

  They made their way behind the main counter and then to their office. Darek stopped in his tracks at the coffee bar when he saw Max’s “#1 COP” coffee mug sitting on the counter. The irony was not lost on him. Neither one of them deserved that title.

  He took his own chipped blue mug and poured himself a cup. Then he grabbed a couple of cookies that were left over from the day before, even though around the station, that meant they didn’t taste good enough to be gone in a day.

  As he settled into his chair, Lizzy’s desk phone rang. “Agent McNamara.”

  Darek tapped the cookie on the table and wondered if he’d break a tooth biting into the day-old cookie. He decided to try it anyway.

  Lizzy’s expression changed from exhausted to anguished. Tears rolled down her cheeks. “Thank you for telling me,” she said. She hung up the phone and quickly wiped the tears away.

  “What is it?” Darek asked. He couldn’t tell if Lizzy was upset or pissed off, or a combination of both. She was so beside herself that she couldn’t speak right away. “Lizzy?” He got up and abandoned his coffee.

  “I don’t know how to tell you this,” she said.

  He searched her eyes. “Is it my mother?” he asked, wondering if that was the horrible news she had to share.

  She shook her head. “No, sweetie, it’s Max. Someone killed him. It happened a little while ago.”

  “Jesus,” said Darek, rubbing his temples. He knew that he needed to react with shock, but he hadn’t expected how much it would actually affect him. Max had been a son of a bitch, a murderer, and a low life, but he had also been Darek’s friend for a long time. Darek still hadn’t processed exactly what kind of nightmare he was living until he knew Max was dead.

  Lizzy sighed. “The case is going to take another fucking turn, and I don’t know how to feel. He was Max. Crazy, good-times Max.”

  “I know,” said Darek, pulling her into his arms. He still wondered if something had happened between Lizzy and Max, and though he’d tried to put it out of his mind, he just couldn’t. Thinking about the way Max had taunted him with that made it even harder to react emotionally. “Did they say how it happened?”

  “Stabbing,” Lizzy said. “His guard brought him back to the wrong area. He was knocked unconscious. It really reeks of a setup. I think he was killed because he was a cop. Maybe someone paid off the guard.”

  “I doubt it, Lizzy.” He had wondered if she would be suspicious about Max’s death, but they’d had no choice but to get rid of Max. He wouldn’t be able to run his mouth about them anymore, and that would mean he and Bay were going to be fine. At least until they picked up his accomplice. For now, all Darek could do was buy some time. “Max had made a lot of enemies in there, and he helped to put so many behind bars.”

  She nodded. “I’m going to get to the bottom of it. Not for the horrible Max he turned out to be, but for the Max we knew and who he was before. That’s the man I’ll mourn.”

  “No offense, baby, but I mourned him enough already.” He didn’t really understand her reasoning, but death and loss made a lot of things complicated.

  “Our case is ruined again,” she said. “It’s like every fucking time we get things lined up, this shit happens, and then we’re back to square one.”

  Darek was surprised by her angry words. She had never cursed much, so two in one sentence told him he wasn’t the only one out of sorts.

  “We know Max was guilty,” he said. “Now we just have to see if this flushes out his accomplice. You should come stay with me, Lizzy. I don’t know if it’s safe for either of us to be alone.” He knew that this fucker had a habit of killing off the people the Zodiacs loved, and that would mean she was in danger. Not to mention that her being a cop would put
a bigger target on her back.

  “I’ll think on it,” she said. “We really have to figure out what direction to go. We can’t budge on the pedophile angle now, not without making ourselves look like assholes. Some will see Max as a victim too, and it’s only going to keep making waves in the department.”

  Darek wondered if the guard had considered those consequences. Whatever the fallout ended up being, it was better than letting Max reveal all of the Zodiacs’ secrets to the police.

  Lizzy shook her head. “Reed is going to hit the roof, especially when I tell him how we’ve been dragging our feet. He’ll want a good reason for it.”

  “You just tell him the truth,” Darek said. “Tell him we were in agreement that waiting was the right thing to do. We used our gut, and we can’t help it that Max is dead now. We didn’t kill him.”

  “Damn, it just seems so surreal,” she said.

  “Yeah, like seeing your friend’s eyes ripped out of his head.” Darek reached over and tossed the cookies into the trash, and then he went to rinse his mug at the little sink.

  “Don’t worry, Darek. We’re going to find out who did that to your friend, and I’ll bet you dollars to donuts that spoon is going to lead to something. I just don’t know what to do with the information Bay gave us. The only option might be to go to the press.”

  Darek’s back stiffened. “No, Lizzy. You think Reed is pissed off now? Wait until you go and do something like that. He doesn’t want a media circus.”

  “But he doesn’t know about this yet, and putting it out there might just flush out the killer and give us the lead we need.”

  “Or it could cause a shitstorm that you don’t want to be a part of. Bay Collins is not going to like it if you go revealing his traumatic experiences to the fucking world. Those men had a reason for not coming forward sooner. Don’t make this worse, Lizzy. You fuck with Bay, and you’re playing with fire.” He didn’t want to see what Bay had in store for her if everything in life went to shit.