Read Online Slave to Love by Nikita Black - Free Book Online Page A

framed photo of her graduation from the Academy which sat under the softly glowing Tiffany lamp, then ran his thumb along the uneven edge of the lamp shade. All the while he kept his eyes on her.
    “Maybe he's using the husband as a surrogate because he can't perform himself,” he suggested.
    She tore her eyes from his hands and slid away from the mantel. “Didn't Tim say that by staging the woman's body and cleaning up the blood from her and the bed, it indicates he wants to put her in a good light?” She walked over to her easy chair and sat on the arm. “To create an impression of purity and innocence?”
    “Yes, that's what Agent Woodruff said,” Mick replied stiffly. “What's your point?”
    If she didn't know better, she'd think her use of the profiler's first name irritated him.
    “Well, maybe this guy doesn't want to have sex with her. Maybe that's not what this is all about.”
    He nailed her with a bald stare. “Caroline, it's always about sex.”
    “Yes, but not necessarily about having sex.”
    His eyes narrowed and he took a few steps toward her. “You don't know a hell of a lot about men, do you?”
    She doused a flare of annoyance. “Well, maybe it isn't a man,” she shot back, jumping up to pace behind the couch.
    He looked momentarily astonished, then his brows knit together. “You must have been distracted when Tim was going through the part about ninety-eight percent of serial killers being male.”
    The only thing distracting her from Tim's profile had been Mick's unrelenting gaze on her through practically the whole presentation. The same way it was distracting her now. She really had to pull herself together.
    “I was listening,” she ground out. “I just think there might be an alternative explanation.”
    He looked more than skeptical, but folded his arms over his chest and said, “Okay, I'm all ears.”
    Lord, was he actually taking her seriously? Shocked, she took a sip of wine to stall for time. “Well, first of all, the killer doesn't have sex with the woman. Has the M.E. looked at the husband for traces of other partners?”
    His mouth parted, then snapped shut. “I expect so.”
    “Does the report mention anything?”
    With obvious reluctance he admitted, “It doesn't mention that specifically.”
    She refrained from smiling. She hadn't really thought this through, she'd just made an impulsive suggestion in reaction to his sex-biased assumptions. But now she was determined to see where she could take it—as unlikely as the theory was.
    She paced back and forth behind the couch. “And then, there's the fact that the killer stabs the man in the back right after ejaculation, when he's completely vulnerable and most likely unaware of what their guest is doing.”
    “The timing is part of the fantasy,” Mick explained with exaggerated patience. “It ties in with how the killer stages the woman's body after strangling her. The man defiling the woman enrages him and he kills the husband in a heinously vicious manner, then restores the wife to innocence after the repugnant act. Of sex . Maybe he witnessed his mother being raped when he was young, or something like that.” He took a swig of beer and looked pensive. “You're right, though. This could be about not having sex.”
    Well, wonders never ceased. “Yes. But why couldn't it be a woman who is reliving a horrible experience, where she herself was the one being defiled? It would explain why she'd want to kill the man as he completed the sex act on a helpless woman, all tied up. And why she'd want the woman to appear pure and innocent afterwards.”
    He nodded. “I see your point. But then why doesn't she just cut off the guy's balls instead of gutting him? Why kill the woman at all?”
    She made a rude face, walked around to the coffee table and set her glass down. “Then, there is the fact that these couples seem to have no problem inviting a total stranger into their home, tying up the wife, and having sex in front