Read Say You Love Me for Free Online Page B

through it. Frantic, she jerked the
     second drawer open and gasped. Her teddies had also been moved around as if
     someone had touched them.
    Then she saw it—a red crotchless teddy lay in the center of her
     bed.
    A low sob
     caught in her throat. It was just like the one the dead woman had worn in
     the photograph. She glanced up in horror and noticed the note stuck to the
     mirror.
    â€œI always
     have one eye on you. You can’t run forever.”
    Shaking with fear and disgust, she rushed to the
     bathroom and splashed water on her face to stem the nausea. What should she
     do? Could that photographer somehow have gotten into her place? Or the
     killer who’d sent her the photograph of the murdered woman?
    Hands shaking, she reached for a
     towel, patted her face dry, then glanced in the mirror, expecting to see a
     madman staring at her. But only her terrified eyes were reflected back. That
     and images of a long-ago time she’d thought she’d forgotten. Of a terrified
     little girl and a man she refused to speak of….
    She spun around, ran into the bedroom to grab her
     purse and retrieved Detective Dubois’s card. She had to report the break-in.
     Show him the red teddy.
    But if she did, he’d ask more questions. Want to know more about her
     and why this psycho had decided to stalk her.
    She’d thought today’s note had to do with the
     magazine. But what if it had something to do with her past?
    D-day—the day she’d died and started
     a new life.
    No, it
     was impossible.
    Maybe she should just pick up and run again. She could start over.
     Find another job. A new name. A new city.
    But the face of the young woman who’d died rose to
     haunt her. She was so young. Hadn’t deserved to be left in the bayou for the
     mosquitoes, snakes and gators to feast upon.
    Memories of the night she’d fled into the bayou
     rushed back. She’d been dirty, hungry, terrified and so thirsty she’d
     hallucinated. She’d seen the devil and other wild, mysterious creatures in
     the marshy swampland.
    And now, thirteen years later, another one roamed the
     streets….
    She
     couldn’t run this time.
    Not with the dead girl’s face etched in her mind permanently. It
     would stay with her no matter where she went. And so would her guilt and the
     memory of her sins.
    The only way to escape them was to pay her penance.
    Maybe by helping to find this woman’s
     killer, she could finally receive forgiveness.
    * *
     *
    L OUP G AROU —the swamp devil.
    Jean-Paul grimaced. The local PD had
     already dubbed their newest killer with the name. The fabled creature lived
     on in the minds of the Cajuns as real as the day the legend
     started.
    Only a devil
     could leave a woman the way this sicko had—helpless, dead, exposed in the
     heart of the untamed bayou.
    Even though it was late evening, Jean-Paul met his
     captain and partner at the ME’s office. When he showed the photograph to his
     partner, Carson, and his lieutenant, Phelps, cursed.
    â€œI’m sending it to forensics,
     although I doubt we’ll find prints,” Jean-Paul said. “Maybe they can trace
     the photocopy paper.”
    Phelps frowned. “The son of a bitch is bragging about the
     murder.”
    â€œDid he
     really expect that magazine to print this?” Carson asked.
    Jean-Paul shrugged. “I don’t know.
     But for some reason, he wanted Britta Berger to see his
     handiwork.”
    â€œBecause of
     her column?” Phelps asked.
    â€œMaybe. Or maybe there’s a personal connection.” Jean-Paul recalled
     her reaction to the photo. She’d definitely been shaken. And he sensed she
     didn’t like cops.
    He’d run a background check on her to find out the
     reason.
    â€œMaybe he knows
     her,” Phelps suggested.
    â€œOr wants to,” Carson added.
    Phelps nodded. “That’s possible. If so, Britta
     Berger might be