Read Online Dangerous Kisses (Siren Publishing Classic) by Tonya Ramagos - Free Book Online
Authors: Tonya Ramagos
Tags: Romance
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aside. Her brows drew together, and she flattened a hand on the floor, leaning over to peer inside the narrow trough surrounding the top of the tank.
“Drake.” She didn’t look up when she spoke. Instead, her focus remained transfixed inside the trough. She reached her free hand inside, seemed to struggle with something for a second, then sat back on her heels.
The titanium serrated-edge diver’s knife she held up in front of her face made his blood still in his veins.
* * * *
Megan stared at the knife and felt bile rise in her throat. The water in the trough hadn’t been deep. She had spotted the black handle of the knife lodged in a crack in the cement, not realizing exactly what it was until she wrenched it free. Finding a diver’s knife in the employee area of an aquarium was no cause for alarm. Every employee who worked with the sharks and other fish would own one.
But they wouldn’t have one with blood caked on the handle.
Drake’s heavy footfalls clanked on the grate as he hurried toward her. Her heart skipped a beat as her gaze slammed into his. The look in his eyes was indefinable, but something in it had her pushing to her feet.
“Stop Tracey and Mark at whatever they’re doing.” Damn it , the scene had already been compromised. Why the fuck didn’t Cusack and his boys find this last night?
Because they hadn’t been looking at it as a murder scene. Cusack had told her he hadn’t seen any evidence that would suggest the attack had been anything other than an accident.
She glanced at the knife in her hand. It damn sure looked like evidence of something else to her.
“Megan, that’s my knife.”
Megan stumbled back a step, her eyes widening as she gaped at Drake. Fear collided with confusion in her blood, sending it pumping furiously through her veins. “It’s yours?”
He nodded slowly. “Look at the bottom of the handle. It has my initials carved into the titanium end cap.”
Megan’s hand wanted to shake as she turned the knife to get a better look at the handle. The letters D and R had been etched into the end cap. She gulped and met his gaze again. “Tell me you dropped this.”
Except, that wouldn’t help, would it? Obviously, the knife had been dropped, slipping perfectly between the grates to stab into the crack in the concrete. That explained how it got there. What it didn’t explain was the blood.
“I didn’t drop it.”
God, was it her imagine putting that dangerous inflection in his voice?
Please, let it be my imagination.
“I loaned that knife to Robert a couple of weeks ago.” Drake spoke calmly, steadily holding her gaze. “I haven’t seen it since.”
Should I believe him? She wanted to. Jesus, Mary, and Joseph, she wanted nothing more than to believe him.
“Didn’t Robert have his own knife?”
Drake scoffed. “Come on, Megan. You know what a dumbass he is. He lost it somewhere. Hell, for all I know he left it at home and kept forgetting to bring it to work with him. He came to me one day, said he didn’t have his, and asked to borrow mine. I let him and I haven’t seen the knife since.”
“There’s blood on it.”
“You and I both know it’s not necessarily human blood. Everything in this place bleeds, Megan.”
True, but her instincts were screaming she couldn’t dismiss it as coincidence. A knife caked with blood found next to a shark tank where a man had lost his life less than twenty-four hours before. If Paul had been stabbed then pushed into that tank, the blood from the wound would have attracted the shark and prompted him to attack. It would also explain why the shark had attacked Paul’s midsection rather than an arm or a leg.
Drake took a step toward her, reached for her, and she took an involuntary step back. A thinly veiled anger bolted through a sea of disbelief in his eyes. A muscle ticked in his jaw as he dropped his hand and stared at her. “You don’t believe me.”
“What I’m starting to believe is that
“Drake.” She didn’t look up when she spoke. Instead, her focus remained transfixed inside the trough. She reached her free hand inside, seemed to struggle with something for a second, then sat back on her heels.
The titanium serrated-edge diver’s knife she held up in front of her face made his blood still in his veins.
* * * *
Megan stared at the knife and felt bile rise in her throat. The water in the trough hadn’t been deep. She had spotted the black handle of the knife lodged in a crack in the cement, not realizing exactly what it was until she wrenched it free. Finding a diver’s knife in the employee area of an aquarium was no cause for alarm. Every employee who worked with the sharks and other fish would own one.
But they wouldn’t have one with blood caked on the handle.
Drake’s heavy footfalls clanked on the grate as he hurried toward her. Her heart skipped a beat as her gaze slammed into his. The look in his eyes was indefinable, but something in it had her pushing to her feet.
“Stop Tracey and Mark at whatever they’re doing.” Damn it , the scene had already been compromised. Why the fuck didn’t Cusack and his boys find this last night?
Because they hadn’t been looking at it as a murder scene. Cusack had told her he hadn’t seen any evidence that would suggest the attack had been anything other than an accident.
She glanced at the knife in her hand. It damn sure looked like evidence of something else to her.
“Megan, that’s my knife.”
Megan stumbled back a step, her eyes widening as she gaped at Drake. Fear collided with confusion in her blood, sending it pumping furiously through her veins. “It’s yours?”
He nodded slowly. “Look at the bottom of the handle. It has my initials carved into the titanium end cap.”
Megan’s hand wanted to shake as she turned the knife to get a better look at the handle. The letters D and R had been etched into the end cap. She gulped and met his gaze again. “Tell me you dropped this.”
Except, that wouldn’t help, would it? Obviously, the knife had been dropped, slipping perfectly between the grates to stab into the crack in the concrete. That explained how it got there. What it didn’t explain was the blood.
“I didn’t drop it.”
God, was it her imagine putting that dangerous inflection in his voice?
Please, let it be my imagination.
“I loaned that knife to Robert a couple of weeks ago.” Drake spoke calmly, steadily holding her gaze. “I haven’t seen it since.”
Should I believe him? She wanted to. Jesus, Mary, and Joseph, she wanted nothing more than to believe him.
“Didn’t Robert have his own knife?”
Drake scoffed. “Come on, Megan. You know what a dumbass he is. He lost it somewhere. Hell, for all I know he left it at home and kept forgetting to bring it to work with him. He came to me one day, said he didn’t have his, and asked to borrow mine. I let him and I haven’t seen the knife since.”
“There’s blood on it.”
“You and I both know it’s not necessarily human blood. Everything in this place bleeds, Megan.”
True, but her instincts were screaming she couldn’t dismiss it as coincidence. A knife caked with blood found next to a shark tank where a man had lost his life less than twenty-four hours before. If Paul had been stabbed then pushed into that tank, the blood from the wound would have attracted the shark and prompted him to attack. It would also explain why the shark had attacked Paul’s midsection rather than an arm or a leg.
Drake took a step toward her, reached for her, and she took an involuntary step back. A thinly veiled anger bolted through a sea of disbelief in his eyes. A muscle ticked in his jaw as he dropped his hand and stared at her. “You don’t believe me.”
“What I’m starting to believe is that
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