Bernadette Gardner Slither (pdf)

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before her shaking fingers found the light switch.
Down on the floor, you muthafu&
Nothing moved. Rihana stood in the middle of her bedroom, the bat raised over her
shoulder like she was lining up a pop fly. Her panting breath moved her whole body
back and forth, and the drum beat in the middle of her chest reached a crescendo that
threatened to choke her.
Nothing stared back at her. All the shadows had fled. The hiss of a serpent s
tongue, the flap of wings, the footsteps of a stalking killer all amounted to absolutely
nothing.
She was alone.
And arguably insane.
On a deep but unsteady breath, she lowered the bat. If she d been embarrassed
before after waking up aroused for a man she d just met, this had to be worse. Running
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around her locked apartment well, it was unlocked now with a bat, hoping to crack
the skull of an intruder, put her squarely in the company of the people who tied up the
9-1-1 phone lines on Halloween calling in reports of ghosts and goblins.
She sank against the doorframe and dropped the bat. This had to end. Whatever
Heath Gyland had done to her, she had to overcome her reaction to the man and get her
head on straight or she d need that aluminum foil beanie Brogan always teased her
about.
She needed that hot shower and a dose of the mild tranquilizers her doctor had
prescribed a year ago. She d only taken one of the pills so far and she knew one was
enough to take the edge off. God, right now, she needed the edge off.
Gramma, she said to the ceiling. I don t know how much longer I can do this. I
need you to give me strength or let me go before I lose my mind.
There was no answer from Gramma. There never was. Even the times she d tried to
contact her through the quaking, the woman from whom she d inherited this gift had
remained strangely silent since her death four years before. With a forced sigh, Rihana
scooped up the bat and headed back to the living room to put it away and relock her
front door. Not for the first time, she wondered just where her grandmother had gone
after death and if she had any idea what kind of suffering she d saddled her only
granddaughter with in this life.
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Bernadette Gardner
Chapter Five
If he d intended to remain in business, Heath might have been bothered when the
police showed up at SkIntense early the next morning. His clients certainly might have
wondered why three armed police officers and a plainclothes detective needed to be
snooping around the shop.
He d let them in without a hint of reluctance and stood back while they pawed
through his equipment and supplies.
Do you keep ink anywhere else, Mr. Gyland? the detective asked. Brogan looked
just as sour as he had in the interrogation room, but now his perpetual sneer also held a
hint of satisfaction since he had the privilege of waving a search warrant in Heath s
face.
It s all in the trays next to the chairs and on the shelves in back. There may be a
bottle or two in the lower cabinets near the sink. It didn t bother him to cooperate.
They wouldn t find what they were looking for, not that they really knew what they
were looking for.
Brogan accepted his answer with a skeptical sigh and directed the uniformed
officers to check all the cabinets and collect samples of dark inks blues, blacks and
browns as well as needles, cloths and everything from the trash bins. Heath wanted to
laugh at their methods. Did they expect he was dumb enough to kill a woman by giving
her a poisoned tattoo and then leave the evidence of the crime lying in his garbage
cans? Check the dumpsters out back too, Brogan said while he nosed around the
coffeemaker as if it might be an instrument of death.
Would you like some espresso, Detective? Heath made his offer with an innocent
smile. He refused to let his agitation show, but this delay made his head spin. He d
wanted to show up at Makena Brady s apartment this morning, knowing he d find
Darq there, but he couldn t walk out now. He had to subject himself to this search to
avoid any appearance of guilt or face another stint of useless questions. Perhaps the
Gemii had planned this all along. Rather than kill him, if they framed him for a murder
they could have him incarcerated for life and prevent him from someday returning to
Verakos.
If only the Gemii were that crafty.
Brogan only shot him a disparaging look. Your apartment is upstairs in this
building, am I correct?
Your search warrant only covers my place of business, am I correct?
Brogan held Heath s gaze for a second. So you re not going to cooperate with us?
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Slither
I am cooperating, Detective. To the letter of your warrant. If you wish to search my
home, get another one.
We will.
Brogan barked a few more orders then rounded up his men. The uniformed officers
carried out their evidence bags and filed past him toward the front door. Heath made a
quick mental inventory of the items they d taken bottles of ink and small pieces of
equipment, nothing he would miss if he planned to continue servicing clients. The last
officer in line, however, didn t carry a bag. Instead he held something up with the tip of [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

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