Read Online For Love or Vengeance by Caridad Piñeiro - Free Book Online Page A

they worked, each of them focused on a different task. Though Helene was keenly aware of what Miguel was doing.
    It was a first for her—being so attuned to her partner that verbal communication was unnecessary. She just knew Miguel would do things correctly, which lifted a huge burden from her. One that she hadn’t really even acknowledged until now.
    It felt good not to be going it alone. To have Miguel to rely on.
    As at other victims’ homes, they found a few newspapers with casting calls and jobs for performers. Victim number five had circled several listings. They would have to follow up on those ads. Compare them to what they’d found for the earlier homicides.
    A knapsack sat leaning against a tiny, cluttered desk. Helene bent and peered into the bag. “There’s a laptop in here. We’ll have to send it to the lab. See what’s on it.”
    “Hopefully something useful.” Miguel walked to the center of the room, placed his hands on his hips, and blew out a tired sigh. “No signs of forced entry. No signs of anything out of the ordinary.”
    “Which probably confirms what we already suspected—that the killer lures the victims to another location. My guess is a bogus job audition.”
    “Then he slips them something to knock them out and ties them up,” Miguel said.
    “Follows with a chaser of torture, murder, and the posing.”
    He waggled a finger. “The posing is what gets me. There’s a message there. A message that we’re missing.”
    She walked over to him, snagged his finger, and playfully tugged on it. “It’ll hit you when you least expect it.”

    It was hitting him already, Miguel thought . Just how close Helene was, and how warm and smooth the skin of her fingers felt against his.
    Covering up his reaction with a cough, he said, “It’ll come to me. To us.”
    She slowly released his finger. “To us. Yes, d—definitely.” The slight stammer in her words told him she, too, had felt something in that simple touch.
    She quickly took a step back from him. “NYPD CSU will be here shortly to process this residence. We should ask them for the knapsack and all the paperwork on the desk once they’re through with them.”
    He nodded. “Meanwhile, let’s head back to the office and start tracking down employer and phone logs. See if there’s anything there that can help us.”

    Miguel watched intently as Helene moved from the bulletin board to the map, methodically filling in information and sticking pins into the new locations for the fifth homicide.
    When she finished, she stood there carefully surveying what she had done, intense in her concentration. For a moment, he wondered. What it would be like if she directed all that intensity toward him, to have all that femininity, intelligence, and passion focused on only him?
    She whirled, jerking his mind back to the task at hand.
    She walked back to the table and stood close to where he was seated. “Nothing different yet. Same area where he’s hunting. We’ve got to narrow down that area to find him.”
    Miguel flipped through his notes. “I don’t think their last actual acting gigs will help. I’m willing to bet they’re unrelated to their murders.”
    Helene tapped a long finger to her full lips. “I think you’re right. None of the victims worked on any of the same projects or jobs.”
    “No evidence from the bodies to lead us to where they were murdered, either,” he said with another flip through his papers.
    “Nothing to give us a clue as to where they went for their final auditions for the murderer. Only a bunch of calls to prepaid cell phone numbers right before they disappeared.” She went back to her notes and examined them again. “Where did the Butcher buy the cell phones? Did he go out of his way to hide his tracks, or just pick them up on his way to work?”
    Miguel nodded. “Definitely need to follow that lead, princess.”
    “Thanks,” she said, clearly uncomfortable and obviously unaccustomed to such