Drawn to Death by Kat Shehata

Author:Kat Shehata [Shehata, Kat]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2023-01-09T16:00:00+00:00

DISTURBING THOUGHTS—LEO

I had two connected murders and no main suspect.

I wanted more than anything to bring Evelyn in on the case. I knew it was reckless to trust a civilian who claimed to have the ability to communicate with the dead, but the killer had taken two lives. I feared time was ticking away before he struck again.

This paranormal thing went against my belief system. Still, at this point, I was convinced Evelyn’s clairaudient clues were the real deal. Parker and I went to the station to share the latest information about the connected murders with the team. As we pored over the evidence, lightning struck twice.

Talia, my fellow detective on the task force, burst into our office with a triumphant grin and an evidence folder in hand. “We just got the photo analysis we’ve been waiting for from the crime lab.” She slammed the file on my desk as if she had delivered the secrets of the universe.

“Take a look at this.” Talia tucked her dark curtain of bangs behind her ear, slid on her reading glasses, and revealed the first piece of evidence. A layer of the photograph had been separated from the scratched-out original found in Sydney’s hand.

“She’s next,” I read. Our brilliant crime lab had unearthed a secret message that had not been visible to the naked eye. The original photo had scratch marks over the face and most of the body, leaving only traces of the image. I reasoned the photo’s subject was a woman who had already been on the killer’s radar before Sydney’s murder.

“The killer is taunting us by revealing his next victim,” Parker said. “He’s a narcissist.”

“Tell me we have an ID on the woman in the photograph,” I said.

“Not quite.” Talia flipped to the next photo. “We got a face, but it’s not human.”

Parker and I exchanged glances.

“What does this look like to you guys?” She pointed to a snippet of clothing the woman was wearing. I reached into my desk drawer and pulled out a magnifying glass. I moved it across the paper and identified a furry face with sharp fangs and a pair of dark eyes staring back at me.

“Is that a primate?” Parker asked.

“Sure looks like one,” Talia said. “It reminds me of—”

“Bigfoot,” I said. Fuck. I recognized the artistic style of a one-of-a-kind scarf designed by the woman I ordered to stay out of my investigation. “The woman in the picture is Evelyn Sinclair.”

As I barked orders to my team, I tried to reach Evelyn. When she didn’t answer her cell, I grabbed my coat and ran out the door. With Parker behind me, I cursed myself for not doing more to keep her safe.

Disturbing thoughts of processing Evelyn’s crime scene raced through my mind. Would the killer dump her body in an alley as he had with the previous victims? Would Evelyn’s last moments of life be spent blaming me for not catching her killer?

I tapped her number again. No answer. If anything happened to Evelyn, her blood would be on my hands.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.