Read Online Killer Among Us by Adriana Hunter, Carmen Cross - Free Book Online Page B

nearly four in the morning. She let Kane lead her outside
but she stopped him when he lifted a hand to hail a cab.
    “ I drove,” she pointed to
her battered old car. “I don’t know why I don’t get rid of it. I
was lucky as hell to get a parking space here and I’m probably
never going to find one near my place ever again.”
    “ Do you mind if I drive you
home?’
    She shook her head and went to the passenger
door. He opened it for her, she had never had anyone open a door
before and she stood in the way, not sure what he was doing and
then she backed up, almost falling over the curb while trying to
give him room. His hand on the small of her back made her feel warm
and comforted and when he pulled up in front of a small diner and
asked if she were hungry she said yes automatically and without
hesitation.
    The diner smelled of onions and ground beef
sizzling on a super- heated grill. Very few people sat in the hard
chairs or crowded into the booths, the bright lights showed very
clearly the worn floors and the cracking Formica.
    “ This place has been here
since the fifties and I doubt if they have ever remodeled it.” Kane
said as they slid into a cold booth. His hands plucked greasy menus
from behind a set of salt and pepper shakers and handed her one,
“On the other side of that the food is just what you come to diner
for: greasy, hot, fast and filling. Please tell me you’re not a
model in the making who thinks a sourdough muffin and a half of a
grapefruit is dinner.”
    “ I’m not a model. People
keep asking me that.”
    “ You could be. So what did
you bring you to the big city?”
    “ I wanted a new life.”
Sophie kept her eyes down when she answered but he could hear the
truth in her voice.
    He ordered two coffees and then asked if she
minded if he ordered breakfast, she said no and he smiled inwardly,
pleased at the small acquiescence. He ordered them French toast,
home fries and eggs over easy.
    They sat in uneasy silence for a few
minutes, “I guess this is a little awkward,” Kane said finally.
    Sophie laughed with relief. “It is. I mean,
I never let anyone…well you know.”
    “ I do. And I thank you for
trusting me.”
    “ Thank you,” she replied
softly.
    The food came, the eggs were light and done
perfectly, the home fries were seasoned and crisp, and the French
toast was fluffy and coated with cinnamon and powdered sugar,
topped with rich clotted cream and strawberries and finished off
with a drizzle of caramel.
    Kane watched her eat; enjoying the obvious
pleasure she took in her food. Her tongue licked out at her bottom
lip from time to time, catching some stray crumb or sweet morsel.
Outside a false dawn showed its pearly face against the steamy
windows.
    “ Did you ever find out if
the…if I saw a…”
    “ Yes, you saw the Creeper.
Or a copycat, we aren’t sure which yet.”
    “ It’s pretty awful to think
there’s one killer, much less two.’
    “ We’re going to get him.”
He felt the need to reassure her, even if he wasn’t so certain he
was speaking the truth.
    “ Susan… a friend of mine,
she used to watch a lot of detective and crime shows.”
    “ Yeah I hate those shows.
They sort of convinced people cops could solve cases and save
victims of kidnapping and serial killers all in an hour. The truth
is most of the equipment that they use on those shows is either
experimental or so expensive no one department can afford it and
everyone’s cases wait in line until they get done so half the time
you may have to wait months or even years to get a
result.”
    “ Oh. Susan would have hated
to hear that.”
    He heard the disappointment in her voice.
“Well we won’t tell her, will we?”
    Her face instantly closed. He saw that
happen and his instincts told him that there was something there,
something painful. She changed the subject abruptly. “Are you from
here?”
    “ No, upstate in Austerlitz.
I always loved the city though.”
    She stared at him,