Filed to story: The Mindf*ck Series Read Online Free
“Just curious, how much do you know about Lana?”
I arch an eyebrow. “Why do you ask?”
He shrugs. “No reason.” His face changes as he looks at something in the dirt, and he kneels.
“Were there any cars parked over here tonight?” he asks.
“We taped this side up, not allowing cars to pass.”
His eyes dart up to the path between the trees. It’s big enough for a small car, but…
“The blood trail led into the woods,” Elise says, interrupting my thought. “All of it was blood from the two victims he killed, but that’s what happens when you saw a guy to pieces and stab another.”
“Kyle Perkins didn’t go into the woods. There’d be drag marks,” I say, finally getting my head on right.
“The killer went into the woods, but not Kyle,” Elise says, confused. “How?”
Leonard pales as he and I look at each other.
“Because our unsub has a partner.”
Chapter 12
Clever tyrants are never punished.
-Voltaire
LANA
“You sure you’ll be able to sit in on this?” I ask Jake as I walk in, pulling my sweatshirt off.
“Waited too long, and I’m pissed off enough to handle the gore tonight, Lana. Just looking at him makes me want to kill him. I’ll be fine.”
“It’ll be the worst,” I remind him.
He rolls his shoulders back. “I’ll let you know if I need a break. But I doubt I will for this one.” His jaw tics, and I nod, looking idly at the selection of shiny knives that are just waiting to turn red.
“What vehicle did you drive?” Jake asks me randomly.
“The Lexus you parked at Lindy’s old house.”
“No one saw you?”
I shake my head to answer his question.
“Logan?” he asks.
“I’ll tell him I took the bus until I could call a cab.”
My eyes lift to his. “Why the third degree?”
He purses his lips. “They know you have a partner now. It’s just a matter of time before they unravel the whole thing, Lana.”
He holds up his phone as the cameras catch them all heading into the thick of the woods. Dogs are going crazy, but they won’t find anything. Everything was tossed into the water after I saturated the clothing and mask in bleach.
“We knew we couldn’t afford the time to leave behind fresh drag marks. It was inevitable they’d learn of a partnership,” I say casually, moving toward the viewing window.
Kyle is banging against the one-way glass that serves as a mirror from his perspective. In fact, the entire box he’s screaming inside is full of this glass, other than the ceiling, which is actually a mirror. The walls are bulletproof, practically impossible to break, despite his frantic punching and kicking.
His hand is a bloody mess from trying to punch through it, and I smirk. Maybe I know he hates small spaces and planned this beautiful killing spot two years ago. Maybe I built this underground tomb full of mirrors just for him.
Just for his death.
Jake already stripped him of his clothing, leaving him completely naked and vulnerable. The sight of Kyle’s naked body makes my stomach roil.
“Was Duke suspicious?” Jake asks as I flip on the intercom switch, allowing us to hear the endless threats spilling from the lips of my next victim.
He doesn’t know how empty those threats are.
“No. The police called him when they couldn’t reach me immediately, since he took it personally that the Boogeyman attacked after he let his guard down on his quest to a bigger, better case. His guilt-induced involvement actually helps us, because I had to see him, and he’s far more reliable as a witness to my whereabouts than any regular cop. He’s watching my house, convinced I’m inside right now.”
“And if he decides to knock and check up on you?”
“You’re showing signs of the paranoia we promised to discuss if either of us suffered from it,” I say, turning to face Jake. “Paranoia evokes recklessness.”
“That’s a logical question,” Jake says, clearing his face of all emotion, hiding the inner panic I know is there.
I turn down the intercom as Kyle threatens to tear a spine out.
“If he knocks and I don’t answer, he’ll call.” I wag my phone at him. “And I’ll answer. If he asks where I am, I’ll tell him I went for a run to clear my head. Which I did run right through the trails in the back of the woods. We’re two miles from my house. I can easily run right back. I bought that house for this reason, even though I only moved in not too long ago. You know all this already, so why the freak-out?”
He blows out a harsh breath as Kyle starts throwing himself against the glass in a desperate attempt to break it. He simply bounces off, not even making so much as a crack in the resilient surface.
“Sorry,” Jake finally says. “It’s just, things are starting to go wrong. First, Logan sees you, but doesn’t see your face by some miracle. Then you deliberately find him when you shouldn’t have been able to, and get him an ambulance. He suspects a woman, Lana. You told me that. And now they know you have a partner. It just feels like everything is going to end before we’re ready.”
I put a hand on his shoulder, giving him a sympathetic half smile. “I get it. But he could have died if I hadn’t saved him, and we ran the risk of the partner thing with no drag marks. It was the only way to get Kyle, though. Breaking into his house would have been twice as hard with all four deputies inside.”
He sighs harshly.
“If your life had been at risk, and Marcus was the one reaping revenge for me, he’d have sacrificed it all to save you. Just as you would have for him.”
His gaze softens, and he leans forward, kissing the top of my head. A brotherly show of affection. “If it was Marcus doing this, I’d still be at his side,” he whispers softly. “I’d be helping him. Can you say the same for Logan?”
My heart squeezes in my chest, and I fight back the emotion that tries to surface as I turn away, watching as Kyle staggers back from another failed attack on the glass.
“I should get in there and get started before he kills himself. That would suck all the fun out of this,” I say calmly.
As I turn to head toward the door, Jake calls after me. “I worry that when the time comes, Logan isn’t going to choose you the way you keep choosing him, Lana.”
I keep my back facing him as I stand in the doorway, trying not to let the words sink in.
“I worry that he’ll never understand and only see the fault and not the good. I worry he doesn’t truly love you enough to give you what I would give Marcus. And I worry that you’ll let him kill you before you fight to stay alive. Every day, I worry more. Because I love you like Marcus loved you. You’re my only family, Lana. You’re all I have. And Marcus might actually rise from the grave to kill me himself if I see this happening and do nothing about it.”
A small smile tries to form as a tear rolls down my cheek.
“Marcus would have chosen you over me,” I whisper hoarsely.
“I doubt that, Lana. And I’ve already failed you once. I failed you worse than I ever could have imagined.”
“You didn’t fail me, Jake,” I say without turning around. “We were failed by everyone else.”
I twist my head around so that our eyes meet, and add, “But you? You’re the hero in all the fairytales that doesn’t expect the heroine to put out.”
He bursts out laughing, and I flash a smile before walking away. The smile falls the second I’m not in sight, and I put a hand on my chest, fighting the pain I don’t want him to see.
So much we learned. So much we know. So much we have going on at once.
And all I can think about is what Logan will do if he learns the truth.
Once again pulling up a fa?ade of composure, I push through the door, and the killer inside me emerges, turning my heart to ice and my nerves to steel.
Kyle doesn’t even notice me until the door shuts and seals with a lock, the sound echoing around us.
His murderous gaze swings to me, but then he falters, his eyebrows raising in confusion.
“The fucking feds? The fucking feds are responsible for this?!” he shouts. “I’ll have you all on a fucking platter when my father finds out about this.”
A dark grin slithers across my lips like a serpent’s ominous smile.