Read Online Particles of Murder (A Shadow of Death Romantic Suspense Series Book 1) by Charlotte Raine - Free Book Online

murdered by his stepson—since the stepson lied about his alibi and had been secretly working against him during the election—so I’ve been checking for blood on various sharp items the detectives had bagged at the crime scene. I’m supposed to see if there’s any hemoglobin—which would indicate there had been blood on it—but, so far, I haven’t had any luck.
    Detective Stolz isn’t going to be happy, but quite honestly, I don’t care much about her happiness right now.
    I hear the door swing open. I spin around and see John, who is already rushing over to me.
    “Look at this,” John says, shoving a note in front of me. “This was left inside my desk.”
    In writing, you must kill all your darlings. — William Faulkner.
    It appears that it was typed up on an old typewriter.
    “What are you doing here?” I ask. “How do you keep finding me?”
    “I stopped by your parent’s store,” he says, “and your parents told me where you worked.”
    “So I have two stalkers now,” I say. “That’s fantastic.”
    What is it about me that attracts men? I try really hard to show that I don’t care about any of them, but they keep coming around.
    “Look at the note,” he insists.
    “I saw it. Are you sure you didn’t write this and forget about it?”
    “I don’t own a typewriter,” he says. “And I’m not that forgetful. Why would I randomly type up this quote?”
    “Maybe it wasn’t random. You could have had a purpose for writing it,” I say. “You think whoever killed Everett and Victoria left this for you? Does that mean you think you’re next?”
    “I don’t know,” he says. “You’ve investigated a bunch of murders. I thought you might know.”
    “Why didn’t you take this to the two detectives in charge?”
    “Because they either don’t think these are murders, or they suspect me of committing them,” he says. “You’re the one person who has believed me. Should I confront Dr. Pierce?”
    “Excuse me?” I spit out. “You think he’s the killer and you want to confront him? Do you have a death wish?”
    “I can’t just wait around and see who gets killed next,” he says. “Is that what you plan to do?”
    I feel heat rush up to my cheeks. “Are you trying to imply that I don’t care about people’s lives?”
    “Clearly, I’m more than just trying if you understand what I’m saying.” He shakes his head. “I don’t mean to be such a jerk, but two of my students are dead and it doesn’t look like the detectives are trying to find the killer. I can’t lose another student.”
    “What makes you so certain that you’ll lose one of your students?” I ask. “It could be a student that you haven’t taught.”
    “There’ve been two victims and they’re both in the English department,” he says. “They’re both prominent students in the English department. I’ve taught most of those students—there have only been a few that have concentrations in literature instead of writing that I haven’t taught. If there’s another victim, it will be an English student that I’ve taught…and even if it wasn’t, I still care about all of the students.”
    Yes. Both victims were strongly connected to him. He could be the killer. But why would he keep trying to pull me into the investigation? It could be to distract me from the fact that he’s the killer, but if he hadn’t been asking about it, the investigation would have been closed quickly.
    I’m still wearing rubber gloves, so I take the note from him.
    “You’re the only one who has touched this, right?” I ask. “After the killer?”
    “Yes,” he says, relief flooding his face. “Do you think there are fingerprints on it?”
    “Possibly,” I say. “But I doubt it. You’ve had your hands all over it and, even if there were fingerprints, they’ll be useless if their prints aren’t in any of the databases.”
    “What about Dr. Pierce?” he asks. “He’s the strongest suspect.”
    “I’ll talk to