Read Online Love Lies Bleeding by Meghan Ciana Doidge - Free Book Online Page B

the same gesture he’d used with Mr. Doyle, the bloody pliers, and Pamela’s tooth. It seemed Shep liked an audience just as much as Mr. Doyle liked to watch.
    Pamela couldn’t find her voice to scream.
    Shep flipped the knife up into the air. It spun up and up and then down and down to land in his open palm. Only now the blade was pointing downward. As his hand closed over the hilt, Shep plunged the knife between the female hiker’s grieving shoulders.
    Pamela choked on the scream caught in her throat. And momentarily, as if trapped in a nightmare, she couldn’t move. The scream strangled her from within. She was going to die from asphyxiation, with the deaths of the hikers on her balance sheet, nowhere near Grady.
    “She should have run, shouldn’t she?” Shep said, as he pulled the knife from the woman’s back to point it at Pamela. “You ran. Does that mean you loved Grady less or more?”
    Pamela was turning purple from lack of air.
    Shep lunged over the hikers toward her.  
    She instinctively rolled away, which forced the trapped air out of her throat. Then, with the motivation of automatically inhaling, she somehow mobilized into a run.
    Playtime was over, and, perhaps high on the scent of blood fumes, Shep was eager to catch his ultimate target. He was insanely hot for Pamela’s haphazard trail.
    •••••••••
    As they ran even farther into the forest, Shep was almost mesmerized by Pamela. Her ivory dress was a sharp contrast to, and offered no camouflage among, the trees.  
    “Moths only know where they are in relation to the proximity of the moon,” Shep called after Pamela’s fleeing back. “That’s what you are, a big white moth. Not beautiful enough to be a butterfly, and I suppose Grady was your moon.” Shep laughed harshly. He was always at his sharpest during a hunt, as if he was a honed weapon himself. He liked being sharp, and feeling capable. More than capable. He was a perfect killer.
    Pamela veered off through a stand of trees and Shep quickly cut sideways in a jog to keep her in sight. “I look forward to being the flame that snuffs you out. First Mr. Doyle wants answers, but he won’t make me be so nice this time.”
    He picked up the pace of his jog and began to run.
    •••••••••
    Pamela veered into a clearing in the forest, tripped over a large branch, and went flying. She barely managed to break her fall.
    A bit behind her, Shep laughed.
    She looked up, and despite the frantic beating of her heart, she noticed an old stump of a tree hidden behind the large tree she had fallen by. The stump was jagged, as if the tree had died and then cracked off years ago rather than being cut.
    Pamela rolled over to look back into the woods. She couldn’t see Shep.
    She reached for the large tree branch that had tripped her.
    •••••••••
    Moments later, Shep stepped into the clearing. He paused, growing even more elated when he saw the train of Pamela’s dress tucked at the back of the large tree she was hiding behind. “Oh, are we done the running part of the program? Where, oh, where, could little Pamela be?”
    He jumped around the tree with a mocking growl and a cartoon wild-beast stance. Then he faltered when he saw only the skirt of Pamela’s dress draped over a tree stump.
    Realizing his mistake, Shep turned back just as Pamela rounded the tree from behind and smashed the branch across his head.
    He fell.
    Hard.
    Pamela, wearing only the bustier of her dress, lacy underpants, and heels, bludgeoned Shep with the branch. She hit him over and over and over again. Blood from some punctured artery spurted across Pamela’s legs, the shock of it causing her to reel back.
    She lowered the branch, trying to calm herself, but never took her eyes off the bloody pile of man that was Shep at her feet.
    He gurgled.
    “Shut up! Shut up!” Pamela, suddenly absolutely hysterical, hit him again and again. He didn’t make any further noise. “Just shut