Page 9 of Deadly Pride

“Maybe.” Could be someone on foot. “I'm going out. Cover me.”

Harper slid the window open and fired toward the SUV.

Liam took that opportunity to leave the apartment. Rather than take the front stairs as they had when they arrived, he took the back, hoping to surprise the shooter.

The only shots he could hear came from Harper. With his heart beating in his throat, he skirted the building. He rounded the corner in time to see the SUV, minus a tire, speed from the parking lot. He searched the surrounding area in case the shooter was still around. Not finding anyone, he thundered back to Jade's apartment.

Harper turned from the window. “That's not the same MO. Shooting doesn't leave the same message as Richardson's death. You're bleeding.” She pointed to his face.

“Piece of plaster.” He headed to the kitchen and tore a paper towel from the roll, wet it and dabbed at the cut.

Jade crawled from under the coffee table. “I think that was my ex.”

“Excuse me?” Liam pressed the towel against his cheek.

“Dane Larson. He's been jealous of Richardson from the moment he caught us having a drink together. I couldn't take the suffocation and broke up with him last week.”

“Does he drive a black SUV?” Harper asked.

“Yes.”

Liam exhaled heavily. “We'll need his address.” What they didn't need was a jealous ex-boyfriend complicating things.

Chapter Four

“I didn't shootat you, I swear.” Dane Larson held his hands up. “I thought you were visiting my girl, until I saw the detective with you. So, I ran.”

“Why?” Harper narrowed her eyes. “Do you know me?”

He exhaled heavily and hung his head. “You arrested me a couple of years ago for breaking into a car and stealing a laptop. You weren't a detective then. Is Jade in some kind of trouble?”

“We hope not.” Harper turned and headed back to the jeep. “If Larson wasn't the shooter, we lost the suspect by assuming he was.” She leaned her forehead on the steering wheel. “We need rest. We aren't thinking clearly. I'll take you to your hotel and pick you up at nine.” Which if her mind shut off would allow her to get five hours of sleep. She'd worked on less.

Liam rubbed his hands down his face. “I agree. In our defense, we didn’t see anyone but Larson.”

Harper turned away from Larson's apartment as her cell phone buzzed. She put the phone on speaker. “Detective Scranton here.”

“Officer Crypton. I responded to calls of shots fired. You need to get over here. We've got another body.” She rattled off an address.

“That's Amber's apartment.” Harper pressed the accelerator, dread weighing her down. Had they brought trouble to the woman by questioning her? How could the killer have known unless he watched their every move? If he did, how?

She cut a sideways glance at Liam. “Amber didn't seem prideful or anything like that to me.”

“I agree. No noticeable deadly sins other than she worked at a strip club.”

“Lust?” It had to be people connected to Richardson. Otherwise, it made no sense. Nothing was random here. Quite the contrary. The murders seemed very well planned out. The victims were not selected at random.

At the apartment complex, they thundered up the stairs to Amber's apartment where Officer Crypton waited outside the door. “She isn't posed like the others, but prepare yourself.”

Harper took a deep breath, squared her shoulders, and entered another crime scene. Through the open bedroom door, she spotted a nude Amber, throat slit, arms tied with scarves to the bedposts. Harper's shoulders sagged. They'd failed to save her. This woman's death rested on her shoulders.

On the wall above her head were written the words, “She wanted what was not hers.”

Harper pinched the bridge of her nose trying to ward off a threatening headache. “That doesn't make sense.”

“Sure, it does. Come here,” Liam called.

She stepped out of the bedroom and joined him at the bookcase. Every paperback depicted a man and woman in the throes of passion. Amber's guilty pleasure had been steamy romance. “Still doesn't say she had the sin of lust.”