04 A Killing Touch (17 page)

“Grumpy. I see how you’re going to be.”

“I’m going to pound you until you look like shit. Did you find something?”

“I’ll pound back, and given your face, I won’t have to pound as long. And that cop buddy of Lana’s just called. Lionetti. He’s holding a scene for us.”

“Who? Where?” He listened to the details Liam had, acutely aware of Lana’s interest, which filled the space between them.
Shit.
Things were about to get personal.

“You not telling me what Liam said isn’t going to keep me from finding out.”

“Nope.”

“Then why not say it? What are you afraid of, Aidan?”

He passed the Bureau building and remained silent for several more blocks. He thought he was unreadable, but Lana had spent too long studying him at every chance to not know his tells. His hands lightly worked the steering wheel, never quite fisting it but never relaxing. His jaw didn’t appear tense, but the skin along the square curve twitched. His pulse beat a little harder in his throat.

“You don’t need to coddle me, Aidan.”

“Wouldn’t dream of it.”

He turned down Everglade Lane and the need for answers evaporated with the rise of her pulse rate. She’d made this drive the day before, and though she’d considered a second visit she’d predicted it would be under different circumstances. Circumstances not including a hardening Aidan.

Hardening. Distancing. Bracing.

She’d dealt with Aidan off duty and on, seen him relaxing with friends and at work on cases. She’d never witnessed his transformation from cantankerous man to in-charge fed, and she wouldn’t distract him from the job. Maybe this was her chance to earn a little of his respect.

“It’s Maria.” Proud of her calm tone, of her ability to compartmentalize despite the sibilant slide of pain pumping through her heart, she stated what he wouldn’t. “It’s worse than the others and you want me to stay in the car when we get there.”

“Yes.”

“Too bad.”

“Lana—”

“It’s Maria. I’m not staying in the car, but I won’t intrude.” She would take it all in, learn as much as she could and make damn certain Maria’s death wasn’t unheard of. “Besides, I was here yesterday. I might notice if anything else seems off.”

He pulled up to the curb in front of Maria’s home. A patrol car and an unmarked were parked in the driveway behind two other cars, one of which she recognized as Maria’s. Neighbors crowded the lawns next door, craning for a glimpse of tragedy and talking amongst themselves.

“With this crowd, TV news will be here before long.” The thirst to swoop in and circle death and destruction, to behave like vultures feeding on the glorified remains, was another reason she’d stayed with newspapers. Her features didn’t require the glory and gore.

“The team will be right behind us. Kieralyn or Breck will handle the press. You’re with me.”

She touched his arm briefly before they moved up the front steps. “Do you have any faith in my ability to handle this right?”

“I want to.”

He’d given her honesty again, but again it held no comfort. Rather than focus on their issues, the reasons they would never work long term, she funneled the disappointment into determination and followed him inside.

Unlike the brightly lit home from the day before, the front rooms were almost completely dark with light filtering between slits in the blackout drapes and from the sunroom in the back. Lionetti stood in the doorway to the kitchen. Maria’s body lay in the living room.

Aidan moved too close to one of the plants. Lana grabbed him, pulling him a step away. “Don’t touch any of the plants. A lot of them are toxic at even a touch.”

He quirked a brow, but didn’t argue as he moved more carefully to Lionetti. In the kitchen, huddled at the table, sat a handsome man turned haggard by the grief riding his features.

“Dr. Grayson found Ms. Walker and called 9-1-1.” Lionetti quietly filled Aidan in on what he’d done since arriving on scene. “The victim has a rash identical to the woman from the alley. The EMTs called her death and then left after we called the medical examiner’s office.”

Lana listened to Lionetti’s run-down, but studied Dr. Grayson, with his Indian coloring drained from his face. Even slumped in grief, the man’s height was average at best. And the shaking hands he continually ran through his ink black hair were clear. No scar. No birthmark. No skin discoloration.

Her mind snapped back to her door. To when she was touched.

When Aidan finished with Lionetti, before he could approach Dr. Grayson, Lana stopped him again with a hand on his arm. When his attention shifted to her, she nodded toward the living room. Sure he’d follow, she headed there.

“You’re intruding.”

“Only to say he’s not the killer,” she whispered.

“You have proof after watching him for two minutes?”

“It only took a glimpse of his hands.” She reminded him about the video of when Lance was touched and the memory of hers. “I don’t think the heartbroken man in there would mark his hand before trying to kill people. And why report Maria’s death and not the others?”

“A fair observation and question, but hardly enough to rule him out.”

Did he not get it? Was he being resistant to give her a hard time or to prove he didn’t really value her input?

“Maybe he’s tired of killing and wants to be caught. Maybe she was the last straw.”

No.
Aidan couldn’t be right. If he was… Well, he just couldn’t be. She couldn’t have read Maria and, by extension, Dr. Grayson wrong. She’d have to rethink everything she thought she knew about her skills.

What about the mark on the killer’s hand? If she was wrong, if Dr. Grayson was the killer, where was the mark?

Thrumming her fingers against her thighs, Lana paced the short hallway between the living room where Maria’s body lay and the kitchen where Dr. Grayson grieved. Her blood pulsed faster and faster while she forced her thoughts to steady. The coroner should arrive any minute to take care of Maria, but Lana felt like they were missing something important.

If they were alone, or even alone with his team, Aidan would give her a hard time for the sake of argument. They weren’t alone or with the team. They were on display for Detective Lionetti and neighbors and reporters waiting outside. Maria lay in the living room as peacefully as if she’d chosen the spot for a nap.

No. Aidan wouldn’t be anything less than professional on scene, which meant she couldn’t fight him now. She needed to prove her theory or accept his.

Walking into the living room with her gaze averted from Maria, Lana tried to recall every detail of her attacker and the scene before her as it had been the day before.

If Maria had been in one of her dark-out phases, and appearances suggested she was, the attacker wouldn’t have needed to resort to a hoodie. Then again, since her main allergy was light, and the killer’s touch heightened that…

“When I was attacked I told you about the EpiPen.” Lana stopped pacing, turned to Aidan in time to catch a blink of rage in his eyes.

“Yes.” Clamped control strangled his normally strong tone.

“Maria explained that she was able to work with the more toxic plants because she’s built up a tolerance for them. And she is able to handle sunlight for longer periods thanks to a similar tolerance.”

“Which has nothing to do with an EpiPen.”

“No. But that tolerance and the fact that death isn’t instant could have given her time to go for a medicine.”

“And if Dr. Grayson had killed her and she got away from him,” Aidan picked up the thread, “there would be signs of a struggle.”

Acceptance.

Aidan had just accepted her theory and the thrill of it wrapped her head like a cloud of champagne bubbles. Stumbling and reaching out to steady herself when she swayed, her hand landed on a table where a bright candy-colored ball-shaped flower—a highly toxic beauty—had sat the day before. Lana flinched, yanked her hand away. The table was covered with toxic plants, but the missing one was one she’d actually heard of.

“Lana?”

“There was a potted foxglove here.” She turned a circle, looking at the plants, but it was too dark to see them well. “Can we crack the curtains more to see better?”

“I suppose.”

Aidan went to the front window and pulled back a curtain a few inches. A shaft of Miami evening light brightened the room and striped one of Maria’s arms. The foxglove lay on its side below the table. One bell-shaped bloom had a jagged edge where a tip was missing.

Lana’s stomach writhed with tension that tripped and trembled throughout her muscles. The sensation persisted until even the tips of her fingers felt bruised.

Excitement.

Fear.

They warred inside as Maria’s lesson the day before rushed back.

“If these plants are so toxic, how can you safely handle them?”

“Just as we can acquire a taste for certain foods we can build up a tolerance to otherwise harmful plants. They’re still dangerous, but enough of a tolerance can minimize an otherwise deadly dose.”

Lana grabbed a pencil from her bag and, braced against the choking grip of grief as she neared Maria, she lifted the damaged bloom with the pencil. The jagged marks looked distinctly like teeth.

“What are you thinking?” Aidan spoke with reserve as he crouched at her side.

“Foxglove can slow a heart rate.” Lana turned toward Maria. The friendly smile from yesterday had been replaced by relaxation and a bluish tint. The pustules that had covered Lana’s arm within minutes coated Maria’s left arm and neck.

Bile surged.

Lana swallowed and swayed.

Still kneeling, she reached for the floor for balance. Her hand landed on Maria’s, which felt surprisingly warm. “How long ago did Dr. Grayson call 9-1-1?”

“About an hour ago.” With his forehead scrunching up, Aidan rested a hand on Maria’s neck. “Hmm. With as cool as it is in here I’d expect her to be cooler.”

“Do you think…?”

Aidan was saved from responding to the hope in Lana’s unasked question when Ava and Liam walked in. Detective Lionetti’s scanned Ava’s Greek beauty with admiration. She was stunning, but even before her recent engagement she hadn’t been enough to tempt Liam out of his celibacy.

“Rose Stevens has arrived,” Liam stated.

“Breck is handling her,” Ava finished Liam’s sentence as smoothly as he picked up what she no doubt would’ve said next.

“Kieralyn and Tyler are working the still gathering crowd.”

“While Tyler snaps pictures of everyone hovering.”

During the now-routine back and forth of Ava and Liam, Lana stood. Whatever else she’d felt within the cocoon of working the case slid away, allowed uncertainty to show in her shifting eyes and trembling lips.

“Lana.” Aidan led her a few steps away from Maria. Each distancing step steadied her lips. “Would you go sit with Dr. Grayson? Use your charm to see what you can learn about that plant. Maybe see if he knows if Maria was expecting anyone today.”

“Sure.” She sounded relieved to have the new task, though her gaze that drifted back to Maria suggested a desire to stay.

His need to get back to Maria pursued the pleasure he felt from Lana’s relief and the need to keep it there. That duty was coming in second to Lana pissed him off. She’d faced an ugly scent and held it together when most women would’ve collapsed into hysterics. She’d had the presence of mind to recall details easily forgotten. Details important enough to matter.

When she was well out of earshot, Aidan turned to Ava and motioned her toward Maria.

“You’re going soft, Aidan. I like it.” Liam slapped his shoulder.

He ignored his brother. “Ava, do you sense anything from Maria?”

Ava’s eyes flared wide for a beat. No one on the team had asked her to use her empathic abilities before. Partly because the abilities were still developing. Mostly because the team felt that using her ability was a betrayal or invasion.

“I’m sorry to ask, but this is important.”

“I can’t read dead people.”

“It’s possible Maria ingested some foxglove to slow her heart enough to stall the spread of the rash.” Lana hadn’t verbalized as much, but it hadn’t been necessary. That Aidan read her so easily was another thing that pissed him off. He couldn’t get the woman out of his system when they shared thoughts and emotions so readily.

“It would more likely give her cardiac arrest,” Ava argued as she moved to Maria.

“Which wouldn’t be much more painful than the rash if Lana’s initial reaction to the touch is any indication.” Aidan knelt beside Ava while Liam took his position across from them.

Clearing his mind of cloudy doubts, Aidan flattened a hand on Ava’s back. While the touch would’ve undone her when she first discovered her ability, the connections now shored her defenses. “I just need you to see if you can sense anything from her.”

He’d checked for a pulse when he’d first joined Lana at Maria’s side. He’d thought he felt a bump against his fingers, but when a second one hadn’t come he’d thought he imagined it. It wasn’t a question he could leave unanswered.