Read Online The Shifter and the Dreamer by Crissy Smith - Free Book Online Page A

He had enjoyed torturing the young woman.
    “Why’d he leave these?” Ryan asked from the other side of the room.
    “He’s playing with us,” Cameron commented from his place on the floor. He was checking under the bed. So far, other than the pictures, there was no sign of the killer. The room was wiped clean. Cleaner probably than when the killer had checked in.
    “Why now? Why here?” Katy asked. “This doesn’t make sense.”
    Cameron caught her eye. “Why you?”
    Katy froze. Ryan snapped his gaze to him and Davis stopped walking through the room.
    Cameron stood and walked to her. He stopped right in front of her. “I’ve been racking my brain wondering why he came here. It’s you. Or it’s me, but then that would still come back to you. Why you?”
    So he’d figured it out. Allysa hadn’t needed to say anything after all. Now she had to come up with a good reason while leaving Allysa out of it.
    “How can he get to the lead agent? Pull him out of his element. You said you were close in Dallas,” Katy offered.
    “You’ve already thought about this,” he accused.
    “It crossed my mind,” she answered with a half-truth. “If he wanted you, it would be easy to go after your old partner.”
    “Or my lover,” Cameron finished.
    Ryan and Davis didn’t say anything or even move. If they hadn’t known anything about their relationship, they did now.
    “It makes more sense that while you were after him he looked into you. We had some pretty high profile cases. The last one especially. Just a picture of us when we were a team could have led him here to me,” she commented. That made more sense. No one had known they were lovers. But finding out they had been partners would have been easy.
    “ Allysa …” he whispered as his eyes lit up.
    Katy jerked back at the name of her sister. It gave it away but now it was too late.
    “Don’t…” she begged. She couldn’t go through it right now, not in front of other people.
    Cameron’s eyes were narrowed, his jaw clenched. “We’ll talk about this,” he promised and went back to work.
     
    * * * *
     
    He watched the FBI agents and the Sheriff drive up to the motel. It had taken two days but they had finally got his presents. He’d taken the pictures himself. His art.
    The Sheriff looked good in her uniform. He would bet she would look even better naked, tied up and at his mercy.
    Everything was ready. He had his new place. Had all his supplies. And Sheriff Rose would soon be falling right into his trap. Then after he disposed of her body for the Special Agent to find, he would move on. He already knew where he was heading.
    He was leaving
Texas
. Saw a picture of the nightlife in L.A. Lots of easy women to choose from there. He just needed to get the FBI off his back. Get some revenge on all the nasty things they had called him.
     
    * * * *
     
    There was no news about the car. Cameron paced the small situation room as he thought about that. Someone had to have seen the car. Katy’s deputies had interviewed the library staff and had confirmed that Amanda Caldwell had arrived around five o’clock that night and was there until closing. She was one of, if not the last patron that night.
    Someone had to have seen something!
    He continued to pace until Katy walked into the room. She stopped short when she saw he was alone.
    “Don’t even think about it,” he warned, seeing the need to flee in her eyes.
    She closed the door behind her. “Okay, let’s have this out.”
    Her voice was calm but he could read her well enough. She was nervous. She stayed close to the door as if that would help. Cameron laughed.
    “You’re not meeting your executioner.”
    She shrugged. “What do you want to know?”
    “How did you know about the library? About why he came here?”
    She stared at him for a long time before answering. He could see it in her eyes. The need to tell him. The confusion on what to do. Finally the decision.
    When she spoke her voice was