Read Online Urban Renewal (Urban Elite Book 1) by Suzanne Steele, Stormy Dawn Weathers - Free Book Online Page B

neighborhoods change from block to block, the ambiance changes right along with it. I know every nook and cranny of these streets because I grew up here. I know the streets, I know the people, and now I’m going to get to know a killer.
    The ride goes quickly, with light early morning traffic and most of the traffic lights cooperating. I pull into the university parking lot and park, then walk at a fast clip over to the Communications building. I slip inside and stand in the back of the auditorium as Professor Spike Ostrom lectures on ‘off the record’ protocol.
    As he finishes up, I think about bygone days of college, how it was so difficult and yet so much fun. Spike was always the professor I could count on when I needed guidance. He has a way of shedding new light on subjects, always providing a fresh and often unconventional perspective. That’s why I’m here today.
    He waits until the students are gone before he speaks into the headpiece he’s wearing and calls me out of hiding. How he saw me I don’t know, the man has always been able to read his classroom and the people in it. “Hey, you,” he says warmly. “My Max-A-Million, get down here, girl.”
    I lope down the sloping aisle and rush over to him, giving him a bear hug.
    “My one-in-a-million Max, how are you?” He rests his hands on my shoulders as he pulls away and studies me with eyes of wisdom.
    “Well, to be honest, I have a situation I need to talk to someone about.”
    “Let’s go get a cup of coffee, then.” We stroll over to the campus coffee shop, making small talk the whole way.  
    “Grab a seat and I’ll get our coffee,” he says as he points me over to a corner booth that’s just become available.
    I sit down and take in my surroundings. The shop draws what I refer to as ‘different genres of people’. I believe just like books fall under different genres and hold their own distinct stories within, so do people. I have a game I like play when I’m people watching where I try to guess what people do for a living. The students are easy enough, but the suits are a different story.
    As I scan the room, my gaze encounters a man in a dark blue suit. Though he’s dressed impeccably, his tousled jet black hair gives him a roguish, sexy look. I study his face as he thumbs through a Psychology Today magazine. Hmm, a counselor maybe. I feel my face flush red when he looks up at me with a knowing smirk. Oh, God, I’m such a dork. His gaze travels along my curves, his eyes gleaming with blatant male appreciation before he nods at me in an almost courtly fashion and returns to his magazine. Whoa.
    Spike stops and speaks to the stranger briefly, and I feel the hair on the back of my neck prickle when the man’s gaze returns to me, followed swiftly by the professor’s. They’re talking about me. Well, shit. I quickly look down until Spike comes to the table, setting my coffee and a double chocolate muffin in front of me, a slip of paper held between two fingers as slides onto the booth seat across from me.
    “Café mochaccino and a double chocolate muffin, right? That’s a lot of chocolate.”
    “You remembered,” I smile, shamelessly digging into the treats.
    “You made quite an impression on my friend.”
    “Oh, really?” I answer, feigning surprise. “Who is he?”
    “He’s an orthopedic surgeon, Dr. Liam Sheldon Chambers.”
    “An orthopedist? Oh, that’s perfect. I would love to interview him for some research I’m doing.” The fact that our killer is cutting off body parts with surgical precision even though he’s using a circular saw makes this doctor a great candidate for an interview—not to mention, he’s hot.
    “Well, that’s great, you should call him,” he says smugly, eyes twinkling as he slides the slip of paper across the table toward me.
    I steal a glance at the doctor to find that he’s eyeing me with that crooked smile again, and I can’t help but smile back. No doctor should look that damn