Scream for Me
Authors: Cynthia Eden
Tags: #Fiction, #Mystery & Detective, #General, #Romance, #Suspense
Also by Cynthia
Eden
Die For Me
: A Novel of the Valentine Killer
Fear For Me
: A Novel of the Bayou Butcher
The characters and events portrayed in this book are fictitious. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, is coincidental and not intended by the author.
Copyright © 2014 Cindy Roussos
All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced, or stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without express written permission of the publisher.
Published by Montlake Romance
PO Box 400818
Las Vegas, NV 89140
ISBN-13: 9781477848463
ISBN-10: 1477848460
Library of Congress Control Number: 2013910017
Thank you so much to all the wonderful romantic-suspense readers out there! I really appreciate all the support that you’ve given to me
.
CONTENTS
PROLOGUE
His prey stumbled through the dark parking lot, teetering in her high heels, swaying as she tried to brace her body against the old sedan. Her blonde hair was pulled back into a ponytail, and her slender shoulders were slumped.
Voices and laughter drifted in the night. The last few bar patrons slowly staggered away.
They didn’t acknowledge the woman. They were too busy trying to stay upright.
He was the only one who watched her.
She wasn’t drunk. That wasn’t why she swayed. The woman was bone tired. Lily Adams had worked a double shift, staying far later at Striker’s than she normally did. She had to be so very weary.
She shouldn’t work so hard. If she wasn’t careful, little Lily was going to work herself straight into an early grave.
She finally got the car door unlocked. Lily slid into her sedan. Cranked the engine. It sputtered, then died. Lily tried again, obviously used to this routine.
It was a routine he’d watched before.
A few minutes later, after a few more false starts, her car backed out of the lot.
He waited a beat, then followed her.
When she turned on the old, long stretch of highway that would take her back to the little ranch house she had off of County Road 12, he was close. So close. His headlights were turned off, and sweet Lily Adams had no clue she was being hunted.
The hunt was always so much fun. Not the best part, of course, but still…
He enjoyed it. The hunt built the anticipation. Let him know of the pleasures to come.
He kept track of the miles as they passed. It was important to keep track because he’d planned this so perfectly.
Up ahead, her car began to slow. To sputter.
Right on time
.
When the sedan stopped completely, he smiled and flashed on his lights.
The road was instantly bright, the headlights falling straight on Lily and her car. She hadn’t gotten out of the vehicle. Sometimes, they did. When their cars stopped, they would jump out. They tried to lift the hood, tried to see what was wrong.
Tried to fix what couldn’t be fixed.
But Lily wasn’t moving.
He parked behind her. Took a breath. Let the anticipation build even more. Then he slid from his vehicle and headed toward her. The road was empty. Stretching as far as he could see. No help in sight.
No help would be coming for Lily Adams.
His gloved hands fisted.
She would make such a perfect addition to his collection.
CHAPTER ONE
Dr. Cadence Hollow was beautiful when she slept. Her defenses were down, her body so relaxed. No fears plagued her, no desperation. All of that was gone in sleep.
Kyle McKenzie studied his partner as the plane slowly descended. Cadence’s head rested on his shoulder. She’d hate that intimate position when she woke. She always tried so hard to keep distance between them.
Distance he’d like to eliminate.
His fingers skimmed over her cheek. Like touching silk. So soft and smooth. His head had turned toward her, and he was close enough to catch the light scent that always surrounded her.
Cadence smelled like flowers. Roses.
She was also the embodiment of every fantasy he’d had for the past year.
“McKenzie.” She sighed out his name without opening her eyes. “What are you doing?”
Imagining you naked
. Was that such a bad thing? Probably. Since they were partners and they were supposed to have a serious hands-off rule in effect. But a guy could still dream.
The plane jerked a bit. Cadence’s lashes lifted. Her big, golden eyes were startlingly aware for someone who’d been asleep. That was Cadence. Instantly alert.
Always on guard.
“We’re touching down,” he told her.
Her head rose, a faint furrow appearing between her brows as she realized she had been sleeping on his shoulder.
Not that he minded being her pillow. Not at all. Especially because she’d been the one to move closer to him.
Cadence licked her lips.
Torture
.
Then she hurriedly straightened in her seat. “I didn’t realize we’d arrive so soon.”
“It’s been two hours.” Not that he’d been counting. They’d left their base in Quantico early that morning, heading out on another case he already knew would hit too damn close to home.
Hell, he’d taken the case
because
it hit close. When he’d gotten the phone call from the police captain in Paradox, Alabama, everything had changed. It wasn’t his first time talking to Captain James Anniston.
Because fifteen years ago, Kyle’s sister had disappeared in that same small, southern town.
Vanished without a trace.
There had been no way he could have denied Anniston’s request for assistance. Kyle hadn’t told Cadence about his connection to the town, not yet.
He knew Cadence. She would think he was going to the town for the wrong reasons.
To find my sister
.
Cadence would be right.
As an FBI agent, he’d always thought he knew all about the evil in the world. Then, last year, he’d been transferred to the violent crimes division and specifically assigned to work with Cadence.
Her specialty?
Serial killers. She was a doctor turned profiler, an MD who’d taken to profiling not just killers, but also their victims. Her profiles were dead-on and had resulted in a case closure rate that had caught the attention of all the higher-ups at Quantico. Cadence’s skills were in high demand at the bureau.
Killers weren’t stopping. They were simply becoming more vicious.
Right then, he and Cadence figured there were between thirty and forty active serials hunting, just in the United States. All those killers were why Uncle Sam had recruited the agents to work specifically at serial apprehension, or SA as the bureau called it.
The pilot’s voice came over the speaker, reminding them to secure their seat belts as they landed. It was a private plane, one the FBI let its agents use when they were going out on cases like this one.
When time matters. When a life could hang in the balance
.
“Do you think she’s still alive?” Kyle asked Cadence, unable to hold the question back.
Cadence hesitated.
She doesn’t
.
Cadence never seemed to have much hope. The victims were the ones she focused on; she got them to lead her to the killers, yet she never seemed to think she or Kyle could actually save anyone. Stop the killers, yes, but rescue a victim?
No
.
“Lily Adams has been missing for less than twelve hours,” she said, giving a quick shake of her head. Her gaze cut toward the window. “There’s certainly a chance she could still be alive, but I don’t know what to expect.”
Such a lie. Cadence could actually lie amazingly well—to everyone but him. The longer they’d worked together, the more hesitant she’d become in telling him a direct lie. Now, when she lied, she didn’t even look him in the eyes.
“This might not even be a case for us,” she continued as the plane slid down the narrow runway. It wasn’t exactly a commercial hub. The pilot hadn’t even been sure they could land at the old place. Not at first.
Cadence sighed. “Why did you push so hard for us to come here?”
Here
being a small spot on the Alabama map, just west of Huntsville. Most folks would probably never even hear of Paradox, but Kyle had never been able to forget the place.
Lily Adams’s disappearance matches my sister’s
. Captain Anniston had called Kyle because the guy saw the link, too.
“I pushed because I think we can save her.” Unlike Cadence, he actually
did
think they had a chance of helping victims, and not just finding their broken bodies.
Her gaze, so golden and deep, the most unusual eyes he’d ever seen, came back to him. Cadence was a gorgeous woman, no getting around that, with an oval-shaped face, high cheekbones, and a small, slightly curving nose. And those lips. Full, red. Bow shaped. Seriously fucking bow shaped. Who had lips like that?
Cadence
. Her skin was pale, her hair so dark it almost appeared jet-black.
Those golden eyes studied him with the same assessing stare she used on perps. He tensed beneath that gaze. “Stop.” He hated it when she analyzed him. But then, Cadence had a tendency to analyze everything.
She didn’t look away. “Saving Lily won’t save your sister.”
Hit
. He thought he’d been so careful, never telling Cadence about his past.
But it looked as if he’d underestimated his partner. Cadence knew about the demons that had driven him to join her in serial apprehension.
His fingers tightened around the hand rest.
His sister. It had been fifteen years since he lost Maria. How much did Cadence know? The actual case files on Maria’s disappearance were sickeningly slim. Just the barest of facts, because the sad truth was that there hadn’t been much for the authorities
to
find. But over the years, he’d created his own files. He’d never stopped searching.
And dammit, he had to follow this lead. If there was any chance that Lily Adams could be connected to his sister’s disappearance, Kyle knew he had to act. Protocol be damned.
All of these years. All of my searching
. Finally, this could be the break he needed. Anniston had given him the tip on Lily’s disappearance right away. If they found Lily…
Then I might find clues that can lead me to Maria
.
His jaw locked. “We investigate the Adams case. If it’s BS, and the woman ran off on her own, then we walk away. All we’ve lost is a day.”
A day they could have spent on another case. Catching another killer.
“Just a day,” Cadence said softly.
This time, he was the one to look away. He didn’t want Cadence seeing the emotion that might be in his eyes.
Hope. He’d never lost it for his sister, or for any of the victims.
He never would.
Cadence didn’t even seem to understand what hope meant. To him, that lack of understanding was a real fucking shame.
After a few moments, his eyes cut back to her. Only Cadence wasn’t studying him any longer. She was looking down toward
her lap. The case file—bare bones at this point—was still open. Her gaze slid over the picture of Lily Adams. Thirty-two, blonde hair, green eyes. A wide smile.
Lily Adams looked happy. Full of life.
If he had his way, they’d find her—
and she’ll look that way again
.